Decision of the Constitutional Court of the
U.br.2/97 off 12.03.1997
Headnotes:
Any citizen, on reaching 18 years,
acquires the right to vote and to be elected unless they have been deprived of civil
capacity (Article 22 of the Constitution).The laws governing electoral
procedure cannot prescribe limitations on electoral rights which extend the
limitations already envisaged by the Constitution, i.e. they cannot prescribe
limitation on the right to be elected for a certain category of citizens.
Summary:
The case was initiated by a citizen
challenging the constitutionality of Article 5.3of the Law on Local Elections,
under which the members of the armed forces, uniformed police officers and
authorized officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Intelligence
Agency, cannot be nominated or elected as members of Local Council or as mayor.
Under Article 22 of the Constitution, any
citizen on reaching 18 years of age acquires electoral rights. This right is
enjoyed equally, universally and directly and it is exercised at free elections
by secret ballot. Only persons deprived of civil capacity are excluded from the
right to vote and to be elected. The Constitution does not distinguish between
"active" and "passive" electoral rights which means that once the determined conditions are fulfilled the
citizen acquires the right to vote and the right to be elected. No special
conditions for the acquisition of the right to be elected are envisaged except
for the election of the President of the Republic (Article 80 of the
Constitution).
In view of the fact that the Constitution
has established fundamental electoral principles allowing the electoral regime
and procedure to be determined by law, the legal presumption is that electoral
laws should be consistent with the Constitution, i.e. they cannot contain
restrictions on electoral rights which extend beyond the limits of the
constitutional frame.
For these reasons, the