Case No 13/93 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:
- 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.
- 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