18/11/2020
The Commission made public today an Urgent joint amicus curiae brief on the postponement of the parliamentary elections motivated by a constitutional reform. The Urgent brief was prepared upon the request by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan of 4 November 2020, where the Constitutional Chamber put four questions to the Venice Commission.
In its amicus curiae brief, the Venice Commission notes that although national practice in the field of postponement of elections by the outgoing parliament is lacking, there are, nevertheless, several benchmarks which have to be followed in order to ensure the respect of international principles and best democratic practices.
The Commission clearly states that when the mandate of parliament is prolonged beyond the constitutional duration because the elections are postponed, parliament has only diminished powers and does not have the legitimacy to carry out constitutional reforms. At any rate any constitutional and legislative amendment must respect the procedure and timeframe set out in the constitution and the law.
The preparation of the urgent opinion was funded in the framework of the joint EU-Council of Europe project “Support to reforms of electoral legislation and practice and regional Human Rights instruments and mechanisms in countries of Latin America, Central Asia and Mongolia”, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Venice Commission.