The Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the ban on running in elections imposed on particular persons associated with political parties. The decision was pronounced following an application submitted by the MPs of the former Shor Party that was declared unconstitutional. Thus, the Court held that the amendments to the Electoral Code, which were given two readings on the same day, contain both procedural and substantial shortcomings, IPN reports.
The complaint was submitted on October 16, 2023 by MPs Denis Ulanov, Marina Tauber, Reghina Apostolova, Vadim Fotescu and Petru Jardan. The impugned provisions prohibit persons who, when the Constitutional Court passed its judgment by which a political party was declared unconstitutional, were suspected, accused or convicted of committing crimes that were mentioned by the Court as an argument when declaring the party unconstitutional, from running in elections. These are persons who were excluded from a previous election as a result of violation of electoral legislation, and this fact was invoked as an argument when declaring the political party unconstitutional, etc.
The authors of the complaint noted that the challenged provisions run counter to the Constitution and violate the provisions on state sovereignty and power, democracy and political pluralism, equality, presumption of innocence, the right to vote and to stand as a candidate at election, freedom of parties and other sociopolitical organizations, etc.
Examining the complaint, the Court noted that the challenged law goes against Article 73 of the Constitution as the draft law was given two readings on October 4, 2023. Thus, Parliament did not ensure a fair balance between the right of MPs to formulate proposals and amendments to the draft law and the principle of parliamentary autonomy.
The Court said the ban on standing as a candidate is limited in time. The persons concerned do not have the right to run for elective offices for three years from the date the Constitutional Court passed its ruling to declare the party unconstitutional. On the other hand, in its case-law, the Court noted that the fixed duration of the ban on running does not take into account the degree of contribution of each person to the facts for which the party was declared unconstitutional. Thus, persons who contributed insignificantly to the acts for which the party was declared unconstitutional will be subject to a ban of the same duration, as in the case of persons who actively contributed or who had a decisive role in committing the acts of which the party was accused. This approach could lead to the prohibition being applied disproportionately to the candidate’s conduct.
The Court held that the ineligibility criteria do not contain neutral texts allowing candidates to be assessed on the basis of the danger that candidates pose to the objectives stated by the legislator. Thus, the ineligibility criteria refer to candidates whose conduct was mentioned in the decision declaring the party unconstitutional and do not apply to candidates whose conduct was not mentioned in the judgment, even if both categories of candidates by their conduct would pose the same degree of danger to the objectives protected by the legislator. This approach of the legislator allows limiting the exercise of candidates’ electoral rights in a discriminatory manner.
Also, when the registration of electoral contestants by electoral bodies based on the list communicated by the Central Election Commission is restricted, the challenged provisions do not stipulate that the candidates should be preliminarily questioned and given the opportunity to defend themselves. Therefore, these provisions do not offer sufficient safeguards to protect against arbitrariness.
Thus, the Court declared unconstitutional Law no. 280 of October 4, 2023 to amend the Electoral Code. The decision is final, cannot be appealed, enters into force on the date of its adoption and is published in the Official Gazette.
