Court objects to direct presidential elections implementing bill

Prague, Feb 22 (CTK) - Czech Constitutional Court (US) chairman Pavel Rychetsky has sent critical comments on the prepared implementing bill on the direct presidential election law to Prime Minister Petr Necas and the government legislative council, some of which the US released on its web page yesterday.

Rychetsky appeals to all constitutional institutions to pay necessary attention to the preparation of the bill.

He mentions as an example the registration of candidates and the subsequent court review of the election procedure.

The government approved the implementing bill yesterday. It sets the rules for next year's direct presidential election that was embedded in a recently passed amendment to the constitution.

The amendment has already been signed by President Vaclav Klaus whose second and last possible term expires in early 2013. His successor will be the first president elected by people.

Rychetsky writes that it is a mistake that the rules guiding the judicial review of the election result is not included in the amendment to the constitution.

According to the implementing bill, the formalities of the elections are to be checked by the Supreme Administrative Court while this power rests with the Constitutional Court in comparable foreign systems, Rychetsky writes.

He writes that the Supreme Administrative Court's verdict will not be definitive because it can be challenged with a complaint lodged with the US.

This will dramatically extend the judicial review and besides there may be doubts about powers.

"The Constitutional Court chairman says this can considerably complicate the elections, both in the stage of registration of candidates when the US might be forced to issue an injuction based on a constitutional complaint and adjourn the election, and also eventually in the stage following the vote," the report worked out by Ivo Pospisil, head of the court's analytical department, says.

The report says several months after the election, the mandates of some US judges will expire. It can happen that the US will get a number of complaints against the Supreme Administrative Court's verdict, but it will not be able to make a decision on them because the US may not have the quorum to decide about them.

It may also happen that the newly elected president will appoint new US judges who will then judge the formalities of the presidential election.

Rychetsky expressed objections to the direct presidential election legislation in the past days already.

People will be electing a new head of state like they elect senators now.

Candidates will be proposed by minimally 20 deputies, or ten senators, or by people in the form of a petition with 50,000 signatures.

The formalities of the candidacies as well as the petitions will be checked by the Interior Ministry like in European Parliament (EP) elections.

Government representatives still want to discuss the bill with the parties in parliament.

The implementing bill does not set any caps for the election campaign. An separate law may be passed on the limits.

"We are under great time pressure in passing the implementing bill for the elections to be declared and prepared in consistence with law," Deputy Prime Minister Karolina Peake said yesterday.