Free Elections

Free elections in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of free elections.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police Work
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• free elections in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• free elections in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

English Legal System: Free Elections

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Free Elections : A right set out in Article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and now part of UK law as a consequence of the *Human Rights Act 1998. The state has a duty to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions that will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature. This duty does not apply to local elections (local authorities are not the legislature but the European Parliament is), and there is no duty to use any particular system of voting (proportional representation or first past the post).