Having reviewed the planned amendments to the law “On the Central Election Commission”, the Public Administration and Local Government Committee of the Saeima (parliament),decided not to submit to the Saeima for consideration the Supreme Court's proposal to exclude a judge elected by the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court from the composition of the Central Election Commission. The amendments to the law “On the Central Election Commission” are being submitted to the Saeima for a second reading as a matter of urgency.

In a letter to the Committee, Supreme Court President Aigars Strupišs pointed out that the task of the judiciary is to ensure the judicial review of the election process and its results via court proceedings, while the participation of judges in the organization of elections poses a potential risk to the reputation of the judicial system and a conflict of interest. The organization of elections is primarily a political process and, based on the principle of separation of powers enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, the judiciary should refrain from participating in the organization of such processes.

The court should only be involved in monitoring the election process ex post and in case election results are contested.

The President of the Supreme Court also called for an alternative proposal to be considered if the Committee did not support the said proposal, namely to replace a judge elected by the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court with a member of the Committee appointed by the Judicial Council, who could be a judge of a lower court, a member of the judiciary, or another legal expert. This solution would avoid institutional conflicts of interest that may arise in connection with the Supreme Court's competence as the first and only court instance to hear cases challenging election results. This proposal was also not supported by the Saeima Committee for submission to be considered at the Saeima.

The law “On Judicial Power” stipulates that the Central Election Commission shall consist of nine members. The chairperson of the Central Election Commission and seven members of the Election Commission are elected by the Saeima, while one member is elected from among judges by the Supreme Court in its Plenary Session.

 

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211