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Selected Developments in Comparative Constitutional Law: July 2024 Round-Up

July 22, 2024

Africa

Western Africa remains embroiled in turmoil following a series of coups over the past three years.

Mali in particular is still grappling with the aftermath of a 2021 military coup led by Vice President Assimi Goïta, as efforts to restore democracy face significant challenges. In June 2023, Malians approved constitutional amendments granting amnesty to coup participants and expanding presidential powers, raising concerns about democratic governance. Several promises of timely elections were followed by multiple postponements, with a vote having first been announced for February 2022 before being postponed to October 2023 and then to March 2024. In September 2023, the military junta postponed the 2024 election indefinitely, citing ‘technical reasons’. According to Human Rights Watch, in March 2024 more than 80 political parties and associations called for the government to return to constitutional order by holding presidential elections as soon as possible. In response, on April 10, 2024, the junta suspended the activities of political parties and associations across the country ‘until further notice’, directing all media to stop broadcasting and publishing their activities.

Similarly, Senegal was poised to hold a presidential election in February 2024, with then President Macky Sall giving assurance that he would not pursue an unconstitutional third mandate. However, on the eve of the presidential election campaign, Sall announced in a national address that he was revoking the decree that had set the election date, plunging the country into a constitutional crisis. The Constitutional Council intervened to reject this plan, and a presidential election was held on March 24, leading to the appointment of Bassirou Diomaye Faye as President.

Chad also held presidential elections in 2024, specifically on May 6, marking the beginning of a promised democratic transition from the regime established by the junta that seized power in 2021. These new elections were called after Chad adopted a new Constitution in December 2023, purportedly reinforcing current junta leader Mahamat Idriss Déby’s hold on power by allowing him to run for the presidency. In fact, Déby, who seized power the day rebels killed his father in 2021 and declared himself interim leader, did prolong his rule by winning 61 percent of the vote. On May 16 the Constitutional Council validated the result, dismissing a challenge brought by two of the unsuccessful candidates amid allegations of vote-rigging.

Asia

Pakistan appears to have resolved its recent constitutional crisis stemming from the failure of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two major provinces, to hold elections within the mandated 90-day period after dissolving their assemblies. Following a no confidence vote that ousted former prime minister Imran Khan in 2022, Shehbaz Sharif’s national coalition, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N), called for fresh elections in February 2024. However, Pakistan’s Supreme Court stripped Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), of its election symbol in January, with the result that candidates ran as independents without party symbols, which are crucial in a country with a high illiteracy rate. Despite this setback, PTI-backed candidates won a plurality of parliamentary seats in the election, though not a majority. Nevertheless, Pakistan is poised to have a government resembling the post-Khan era, as the second- and third-largest parties, the PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), have once again formed a coalition government. In June 2024, the US Congress voted to demand ‘full and independent investigation of claims of interference or irregularities’ in elections held in Pakistan.

Europe

In June 2024, 360 million EU citizens in 27 countries were called to the ballot box to elect the members of the European Parliament. Overall, the election results saw low voter turnout and a perceivable right-wing surge. The EU vote had major indirect repercussions at the national level in many Member States, most notably in France, where President Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the lower house of France’s parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls. In the subsequent elections, conducted in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, 2024, the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire emerged as the dominant coalition, thus winning the most seats in the National Assembly. This coalition outpaced President Macron’s centrist alliance, which finished in second place, followed by the far-right party Rassemblement National, which however had led in votes during the first round. The resulting hung parliament, where no party or coalition secured a clear majority, could lead to a period of political instability with the potential to reshape French political dynamics, affecting future priorities and initiatives.

In Italy, the European vote confirmed the citizens’ confidence in the right-wing party led by Giorgia Meloni. In November 2023, the current government agreed to a proposal aimed at revising the country’s constitution. The proposal entails the direct election of the Prime Minister, which would fundamentally alter Italy’s current form of government. At the moment, Italy operates under a parliamentary system where the President of the Republic, elected every seven years by both houses of parliament and regional delegates, appoints the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s government is then subject to a vote of confidence in both houses of parliament. The proposed reform seeks to shift this balance by introducing the direct election of the Prime Minister, potentially transforming Italy into either a presidential or semi-presidential system, depending on the specifics that will emerge in subsequent legislative processes.

In Poland, the eight years of rule of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which came to an end after its electoral defeat in October 2023, have led to what is considered by many as a prime example of constitutional backsliding. In particular, the rule of the PiS has raised widespread concerns about the independence of the Constitutional Tribunal and the undue influence exercised over it by the PiS, leading to the perception of many rulings as illegitimate as a result of irregularities in judicial appointments. To address this issue, the current government announced a series of measures, including a reform to the process for selecting future judges and amendments to Poland’s constitution. The first step in the process was Parliament’s passage of a resolution urging three constitutional judges to resign and join the democratic transition. These judges had been nominated by the PiS in 2015 and sworn in by President Andrzej Duda in the place of judges legitimately designated by Parliament before the PiS took power. In response, PiS MPs asked the Constitutional Tribunal to assess the resolution’s constitutionality, arguing that it violated the principles of separation of powers and judicial independence. In May 2024, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled the resolution unconstitutional, stating that neither the constitution nor any other legal act gives the Sejm (Parliament) the authority to question the competence of constitutional judges or undermine the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgments.

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