Preserving the secrecy of the ballot is an election principle of fundamental importance. If this
principle is violated, the ballot has to be pronounced invalid, in part or in total, by way of the
procedures laid down in the Law on the Scrutiny of Elections. The secrecy of the ballot is a
principle which cannot be dissociated from that of free elections.
The need to preserve the secrecy of the ballot must be accounted for in the provisions of
legal norms and legislation, and safeguarded by the latter directly and indirectly. Any violation
of the secrecy of the ballot is subject to a penalty. As regards representative electoral
statistics, the secrecy of the ballot is also guaranteed by the adherence to specific principles.
As the secrecy of the ballot is to merely guarantee voters a free choice in who they decide
to vote for, voters themselves are not obliged to preserve the secrecy of the ballot – except
during the act of voting. Thus, in the period before and after the act of voting they have the
right to divulge for whom they have cast their votes. However, during the act of voting they must
adhere to the rules laid down to safeguard the secrecy of the ballot, especially to those governing
order in the polling station, and there to preserve the secrecy of their ballot. In this respect,
they may not only vote in secret, they are obliged to do so. The principle of the secrecy of the
ballot is violated, for example, if a group of voters unanimously and demonstratively renounce
their right to vote in secret in order to announce how they have cast their votes, with a certain
intention in mind, since the other voters, who cast their votes in secret, are automatically
suspected of having voted differently from them. Anyone wishing to cast their votes in secret could
get into a position where they are no longer able to take a free decision.
