The Constitutional Court rejected as inadmissible MP Marina Tauber’s request to establish the constitutionality of Article 160, paragraph 2 of the Electoral Code. This says that the period for registering the domicile or temporary residence cannot be shorter than three months before the date of the first round of elections, IPN reports.
The application author said the challenged measure institutes differentiated treatment between the citizens who registered the domicile/temporary residence during fewer than three months before the first round of local elections and those who registered the domicile/temporary residence more than three months before the first round of local elections. Moreover, Marina Tauber said that under the challenged provision, the citizens who changed the domicile during the past three months until the first round of local elections will not be able to vote in the constituency that includes the new domicile or in the constituency that included the previous domicile. This way, the citizens will be deprived of the right to vote.
The Court held that the challenged provision bans the citizens from voting in the local elections if they registered the domicile or temporary residence during a period of time that is shorter than three months of the date of the first round of voting. The given provision institutes a measure that is generally applicable only to persons who changed the domicile or temporary residence within three months before the date of the first round of local elections.
The Court noted that the restriction imposed by Article 160, paragraph 2 of the Electoral Code is a reasonable guarantee for the integrity of the local elections and is a measure needed for counteracting electoral migration that affects the democratic principles in electoral matters. The ban on voting in local elections imposed on persons who changed the domicile or temporary residence during three months before the first round of local elections does not affect the substance of the right to vote.
The Constitutional Court’s decision is definitive, cannot be challenged, takes effect when it is adopted and is published in the Official Gazette.
