Senate election does not violate Constitution, says charter court
Court confirms Articles 36, 40, 41 and 42 of the organic law on MP, senatorial election does not violate charter’s Article 107
The nine Constitutional Court judges voted unanimously affirming the constitutionality of four articles of the organic law on senatorial election on Tuesday.
The court ruled that Articles 36, 40, 41 and 42 of the MPs and Senate Election Act do not violate the Constitution’s Article 107 as alleged by six senatorial candidates.
The petitioners took their case to the Central Administrative Court asking for a charter court ruling on whether Articles 40, 41 and 42 of the organic law, allowing candidates to vote amongst themselves, violated the charter’s Article 107.
In the petition, they pointed out that according to Article 107, people from different professions could elect one another to prevent political interference. However, they said, the fact that these candidates could vote amongst themselves did not prevent such interference.
They also voiced opposition to Article 36, which allows senatorial candidates to seek help from others to introduce themselves to other candidates. This clause, they said, would allow rich candidates to campaign via the internet or other electronic media, while candidates with fewer means would not enjoy such advantages.
However, now that the charter court has deemed the proceedings constitutional, the Election Commission can go ahead with the Senate election. The national level voting is scheduled for June 26 after the provincial level was held on June 16 and district level on June 9.
The EC is scheduled to announce the 200 new senators on July 2.
