Lietuviškai
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF
THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
R U L I N G
On the compliance of the Seimas of the Republic of
Lithuania resolution "On the refusal of some members of the
Central Electoral Committee to abide by the Law on Elections to
the Seimas, upon nullifying the unlawful resolutions of the
Central Electoral Committee by the Supreme Court of the
Republic of Lithuania", adopted on 23 March 1993, with the
Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania
30 June 1994, Vilnius
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed from the Justices of the Constitutional Court Algirdas
Gailiūnas, Kęstutis Lapinskas, Zigmas Levickis, Vladas
Pavilonis, Pranas Vytautas Rasimavičius, Stasys Stačiokas,
Teodora Staugaitienė, Stasys Šedbaras and Juozas Žilys,
the secretary of the hearing - Rolanda Stimbirytė,
the petitioner - Seimas member Andrius Kubilius and
Zenonas Juknevičius, representatives of a group of the Seimas
members,
the party concerned - Juozas Bernatonis, Seimas
representative, Deputy Chairman of the Seimas,
pursuant to the first part of Article 102 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and Part 1, Article 1
of the Law on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Lithuania, in its public hearing of 28 June 1994 conducted the
investigation of Case No 13/93 subsequent to the petition
submitted to the Court by a group of the Seimas members
requesting to investigate if the Seimas of the Republic of
Lithuania resolution "On the refusal of some members of the
Central Electoral Committee to abide by the Law on Elections to
the Seimas, upon nullifying the unlawful resolutions of the
Central Electoral Committee by the Supreme Court of the
Republic of Lithuania" is in compliance with the Constitution
of the Republic of Lithuania.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania on 23 March 1993
adopted the resolution "On the refusal of some members of the
Central Electoral Committee to abide by the Law on Elections to
the Seimas, upon nullifying the unlawful resolutions of the
Central Electoral Committee by the Supreme Court of the
Republic of Lithuania"(Official Gazette "Valstybės Žinios,
1993, No 10-241). Under item 1 of this resolution, the
composition of the Central Electoral Committee was changed,
decreasing it by 13 members. Under item 2, the Seimas obligated
the Central Electoral Committee, pursuant to the decisions of
the Supreme Court of Lithuania, to meet the requirement of
Article 79 of the Law on Elections to the Seimas and publicize
the final election results in 20-th (Baltijos), 22-nd (Pajūrio)
and 64-th (Šakių) electoral areas.
The petitioner - a group of the Seimas members - requests
to investigate if the 23 March 1993 Seimas resolution "On the
refusal of some members of the Central Electoral Committee to
abide by the Law on Elections to the Seimas, upon nullifying
the unlawful resolutions of the Central Electoral Committee by
the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania" is in
conformity with item 13 of Article 67 of the Constitution of
the Republic of Lithuania.
The petitioner's request is grounded on the following
motives.
In item 13 of Article 67 it is established that the Seimas
is entitled to the right only to form the Central Electoral
Committee and to change its composition. In Article 5 of the
Constitution it is set forth that "the scope of the powers of
the State shall be defined by the Constitution", which means
that the Seimas does not have the power to obligate the Central
Electoral Committee in any way.
Pursuant to these motives, the petitioner requests the
Constitutional Court to recognize that said resolution fails to
conform to the provisions of item 13 of Article 67 of the
Constitution.
In court hearing the petitioner's representatives
emphasized that the Central Electoral Committee is an
independent institution, therefore, the Seimas did not have the
right to obligate it in any way. The powers of the Seimas are
defined in Article 67 of the Constitution, which does not
provide for such right.
The representative of the party concerned explained during
the preliminary investigation of the case, that the Seimas
resolution in dispute does not contradict the provisions of
item 13 of Article 67 of the Constitution, and submitted the
following arguments.
The petitioner maintains that, under item 13 of Article 67
of the Constitution, the Seimas has the right only to form the
Central Electoral Committee and change its composition. In the
petitioner's opinion, the Seimas acted in compliance with the
Constitution, because item 1 of the Seimas resolution
established the change in the composition of the Central
Electoral Committee, decreasing it by 13 members, who had
refused to abide by the Law on Elections to the Seimas. In the
opinion of the representatives of the party concerned, the
arguments submitted by the petitioner may be applied only to
item 2 of the Seimas resolution in dispute, because it
established: "to commission the Central Electoral Committee,
pursuant to the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Republic
of Lithuania, to meet the requirement of Article 79 of the Law
on Elections to the Seimas and to publicize the final election
results in 20-th (Baltijos), 22-nd (Pajūrio) and 64-th (Šakių)
electoral areas". However, in the opinion of the
representatives of the party concerned, such commission by the
Seimas was predetermined by specific circumstances and the
necessity to prevent violations of the Constitution, thus, it
did not contradict the constitutional provisions. The Supreme
Court of the Republic of Lithuania, subsequent to the suits
brought by the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, recognized
the decisions of the Central Electoral Committee to nullify the
vote calculation records in some electoral districts, as
groundless. Meanwhile, the Central Electoral Committee refused
to execute court decisions and to publicize the final election
results in electoral areas, as well as refused to meet the
requirements of Article 79 of the Law on Elections to the
Seimas.
Under the Seimas resolution of 14 January 1993, the
Commission was formed for the investigation of the activity of
the Central Electoral Committee. The Seimas resolution in
dispute was adopted in accordance with the conclusions drawn by
the Commission. The representative of the party concerned has
underlined, that the Constitutional Court did not exist at that
time, therefore, only the Central Electoral Committee itself
could eliminate its rough violations of the Law. In the opinion
of the representative of the party concerned, item 2 of the
Seimas Act in dispute is directly related to the change of the
composition of the Central Electoral Committee. Furthermore,
the Seimas obligation in dispute did not cause any new legal
consequences, because the Central Electoral Committee had to
publicize the final results only after the Supreme Court
decisions.
Conforming to the above mentioned arguments, the
representative of the party concerned requests the
Constitutional Court to recognise that the 23 March 1993 Seimas
resolution "On the refusal of some members of the Central
Electoral Committee to abide by the Law on Elections to the
Seimas, upon nullifying the unlawful resolutions of the Central
Electoral Committee by the Supreme Court of the Republic of
Lithuania" does not contradict the Constitution of the Republic
of Lithuania.
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
1. In Article 5 of the Constitution it is established
that: "The scope of the powers of the State shall be defined by
the Constitution". First of all, it means that the scope of
powers of the Seimas, the President of the Republic and the
Government, as well as the Court shall be defined by the
Constitution itself. The statute of every said institution is
regulated in separate chapters of the Constitution, and the
main constitutional provisions are particularized in special
laws. The statute of the Seimas is defined in Chapter 5
entitled "The Seimas", and the structure and procedure of
activities is determined in the statute of the Seimas (Article
76 of the Constitution).
The Central Electoral Committee is an institution formed
by the Seimas (item 13, Article 67 of the Constitution),
therefore, the Seimas is entitled to the right to supervise the
activity of this institution, as far as it conforms to the
provisions pertaining to the scope of the powers of the State.
It is primarily based on the provision of the first part of
Article 61 of the Constitution, which establishes the right of
the Seimas members to submit inquires - as a form of
parliamentary control. Among said "State institutions formed or
elected by the Seimas", exception is applied only to the
courts, because their independence is guaranteed in Articles
109 and 114 of the Constitution. Such independence of the
Central Electoral Committee is not set forth in the
Constitution.
Secondly, certain possibilities for the Seimas to control
are expressed in the right vested in the Seimas to change the
composition of the Central Electoral Committee, which is
established in item 13 of Article 67 of the Constitution. It
should be noted, that the prerogative of the Seimas to change
the composition of the Central Electoral Committee is not
defined by any criteria in the Constitution, however, it is
restricted by appropriate provisions of the Law on Elections to
the Seimas, which has been adopted by the Seimas itself.
Finally, Article 107 of the Constitution establishes the
right of the Seimas to adopt the final decision only in case of
the violation of laws. Such decision of the Seimas must be
based on the conclusion of the Constitutional Court. In case of
doubts whether Laws on Elections were not violated during
election of the President of the Republic or elections to the
Seimas, under the fifth part of Article 106 of the
Constitution, the right to request the constitutional court to
submit the conclusion is vested in the Seimas, and - concerning
elections to the Seimas - also in the President of the Republic
of Lithuania.
2. At the time when the Seimas resolution in dispute was
passed, the Constitutional Court did not function yet,
therefore, the mechanizm of investigation and settling the
disputes pertaining to the violations of Laws on Elections
could not be applied. Thus, the use was made of judicial
control, set forth in the Law on Election to the Seimas which
was in effect at that time - i. e. the opportunity to lodge
complaints considering the declaration of the elections invalid
with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania.
The Supreme Court by its decision established the
violations of the Law on Elections to the Seimas, made by the
Central Electoral Committee in three electoral areas and
nullified unlawful and groundless resolutions of the Central
Electoral Committee. In the motives of the court decision it
was specified, that the Court does not include in the decision
thereof the obligation to the Central Electoral Committee to
confirm other election results, because it is the Law on
Elections to the Seimas which obligates the Central Electoral
Committee to confirm correct election results (Articles 75-79).
However, on 27 February 1993 the Central Electoral Committee
adopted the resolution: "On the implementation of the decisions
of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania", and stated
therein that, regardless of the decisions passed by the Court,
it "does not find any legal basis for changing the 22 November
1992 resolution, which confirms the final results of elections
to the Seimas in one-candidate and multi-candidate electoral
areas". In legal power a court decision equals to the law,
therefore, no one may refuse to abide by court decision. Under
such circumstances, the Seimas formed the parliamentary
Commission for the investigation of the activity of the Central
Electoral Committee. Conforming to the conclusions submitted by
said Commission, the Seimas on 23 March 1993 adopted resolution
"On the refusal of some members of the Central Electoral
Committee to abide by the Law on Elections to the Seimas, upon
nullifying the unlawful resolutions of the Central Electoral
Committee by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania".
The refusal of the Central Electoral Committee to implement
court decisions and the Law on Elections to the Seimas is
stated in the preamble to the Seimas resolution in dispute. The
composition of the Central Electoral Committee was changed by
item 1 of said resolution, i. e. in compliance with item 13 of
Article 67 of the Constitution.
The Seimas did not nullify the resolutions of the Central
Electoral Committee and did not adopt new decisions concerning
the election results instead. Under item 2 of the resolution,
the Central Electoral Committee was obligated to fulfil its
duty, i. e. to abide by the Supreme Court decisions and the Law
on Elections to the Seimas. Actually, said item 2 did not have
any independent and new contents, as it only repeated the
obligation of the Central Electoral Committee to meet the
requirements prescribed by the Law on Elections to the Seimas,
which is specified in the motives of the Supreme Court
decisions. Therefore, such obligation may not be regarded as
groundless or unfair, because, in this particular case, it was
meant for the elimination of violations of the law, established
by the Court. Item 2 of said resolution is not to be considered
as the excession of the Seimas competence, because, under the
norms of the third part of Article 107 of the Constitution, the
Seimas shall have a final decision in case of disputes
concerning the election results. In the case under dispute, the
Seimas acted in compliance with the powers determined in item
13, Article 67 of the Constitution.
The Constitutional Court maintains that said decision of
the Seimas , adopted under such circumstances when the Supreme
Court decisions were ignored and legal means for making act in
conformity with these decisions could not be found, should be
considered as inevitable measure, as it overcame the disregard
of powers of judicial authority.
Thus, there is no ground for maintaining, that the Seimas
resolution in dispute contradicts the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania.
Conforming to Article 102 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania as well as Articles 53, 54, 55 and 56 of
the Law on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Lithuania, the Constitutional Court has passed the following
ruling:
To recognize that the Seimas resolution "On the refusal of
some members of the Central Electoral Committee to abide by the
Law on Elections to the Seimas, upon nullifying the unlawful
resolutions of the Central Electoral Committee by the Supreme
Court of the Republic of Lithuania", does not contradict the
Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
This Constitutional Court ruling is final and not subject
to appeal.
The ruling is promulgated on behalf of the Republic of
Lithuania.