[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR452.35]

[Page 179]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
  CHAPTER IV--OFFICE OF LABOR-MANAGEMENT STANDARDS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 452_GENERAL STATEMENT CONCERNING THE ELECTION PROVISIONS OF THE 
LABOR-MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959--Table of Contents
 
        Subpart E_Candidacy for Office; Reasonable Qualifications
 
Sec. 452.35  Qualifications for candidacy.

    It is recognized that labor organizations may have a legitimate 
institutional interest in prescribing minimum standards for candidacy 
and officeholding in the organization. On the other hand, a dominant 
purpose of the Act is to ensure the right of members to participate 
fully in governing their union and to make its officers responsive to 
the members. A basic assumption underlying the concept of ``free and 
democratic elections,'' is that voters will exercise common sense and 
good judgment in casting their ballots. In union elections as in 
political elections, the good judgment of the members in casting their 
votes should be the primary determinant of whether a candidate is 
qualified to hold office. Therefore, restrictions placed on the right of 
members to be candidates must be closely scrutinized to determine 
whether they serve union purposes of such importance, in terms of 
protecting the union as an institution, as to justify subordinating the 
right of the individual member to seek office and the interest of the 
membership in a free, democratic choice of leaders.