Reprimands to the Sámi Parliament and its Executive Board and legal secretary for unlawful conduct in the 2023 Sámi parliamentary election
Deputy-Ombudsman Maija Sakslin has issued reprimands in a matter concerning the conduct of the Sámi Parliament and the election board in the 2023 Sámi parliamentary election and the actions of the police at a polling station.
Electoral roll and compliance with the decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court
The Executive Board and the election board of the Sámi Parliament had not complied with the final decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court in the preparation of the electoral roll. Nearly 70 people had been unlawfully excluded from the electoral roll, which affected the outcome of the election. For this reason, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered the election to be repeated (decisions KHO 2024:44, KHO 2024:45 KHO 2024:46).
The Deputy-Ombudsman considered that the Executive Board and the election board of the Sámi Parliament had acted unlawfully when they did not comply with the decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court in the preparation of the electoral roll. However, according to the Deputy-Ombudsman, the reprehensibility of their conduct was reduced by the fact that the members of these bodies had relied on the recommendations of international human rights bodies, among other things. Reprehensibility was also reduced by the fact that the Supreme Administrative Court had changed its interpretation of the definition of Sámi in the Sámi Act after the statements made by the UN Human Rights Committee.
Submitting reports to the Ombudsman
The Sámi Parliament neglected its obligation to submit within the deadline the reports requested by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. According to the Executive Board of the Sámi Parliament, there was no access to the electoral board’s archives, even though the Archives Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities require the availability of the documents.
The failure to submit the documents needed for the investigation of the complaint and neglecting the obligation to report affected the rights of the complainants and the possibilities of the supreme overseer of legality to process the complaints.
Use of expert assistance
The election board used an external expert without a written agreement. The Deputy-Ombudsman draws the attention of the Sámi Parliament and the election board to the requirements of the Constitution and good governance, which necessitate written agreements on expert assistance.
The actions of the police
The complainants had requested executive assistance from the police for voting in the Sámi parliamentary election. There were shortcomings in the justifications for the decision on executive assistance, but otherwise no unlawfulness was discovered in the actions of the police.
Measures taken by the Parliamentary Ombudsman
Based on section 10 of the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act, the Deputy-Ombudsman issued a reprimand to the Executive Board and the election board of the Sámi Parliament as well as to the legal secretary, who acted as the presenting officer, for conduct violating the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act and the Archives Act.
The Deputy-Ombudsman drew the attention of the Sámi Parliament and the Executive Board of the Sámi Parliament to the archiving obligations, access to documents, contractual practices in the use of expert assistance and the prohibition on using private individuals to perform official duties.
The attention of the police chief inspector who made the decision on executive assistance was drawn to providing appropriate justifications for the decision in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.
In addition, the Deputy-Ombudsman proposed that the Ministry of Justice consider launching an assessment of how the status and rights of the Forest Sámi and Inari Sámi and the safeguarding of their culture and traditions could be implemented.
Because there is no established practice or guideline for securing the right to vote at polling stations as a police duty, the Deputy-Ombudsman proposed that the Ministry of Justice consider whether it would be necessary to assess how voting is secured at a polling station.
The Deputy-Ombudsman’s decision EOAK/6726/2024 has been published (in Finnish) on the website www.oikeusasiamies.fi.
Further information is available from: Principal Legal Adviser Susanna Wähä tel. +358 9 432 33 45.