Case No 13/93
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.
Justices of the Constitutional Court:
Algirdas Gailiūnas Kęstutis Lapinskas
Zigmas Levickis Vladas Pavilonis
Pranas Vytautas Rasimavičius Stasys Stačiokas
Teodora Staugaitienė Stasys Šedbaras
Juozas Žilys