Electoral Poll Regulations in The World

Abstract

This paper surveys regulations over opinion polls on election results in 56 countries, on the basis of the 1985 European Council report. They are recategorized by the levels of current restrictions.
First, the paper compares how electoral poll regulations are enforced in France, Belgium, Spain and other countries. From this, electoral poll regulations are characterized by the following points; (A) obligatory annexation of several standards about the poll (e. g. number of sample, survey method, margin of error etc.) with the published poll results, (B) establishment of a “Opinion Poll Committee” in order to manage and control electoral polls, (C) prohibition of publication of election poll results before voting day. Of those three points, most electoral laws place greater emphasis on point (A).
Next, some countries' congressional proceedings and newspapers are summarized to show legislative discussions. In parliamentary debates, there were four features; (A) debates beginning with some political accidents (e. g. misprediction of newspapers, landslide victory of one party in the last election etc.), (B) proposition from Congressional members, and their speculation on effects of polls on election results without proof, (C) uneven periods of prohibition. And descriptions of reasons for or against publication ban were also added.