The Constitutional Court confirmed the cancellation of gubernatorial elections

On December 21, 2005, the Constitutional Court confirmed that the current procedure for appointing governors is in line with the Basic Law.

The court considered the complaint of the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Vladimir Grishkevich on the unconstitutionality of the appointment of governors, the dismissal of the governor "for loss of confidence", as well as the dissolution of the regional representative body in case of refusal to agree on the submitted candidature and ruled only on the procedure for appointing governors. The Constitutional Court refused to rule on two other complaints, explaining that these norms of the law had not yet been applied in practice.

SPS lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said that the court motivated its decision, in particular, by the fact that the Constitution does not directly indicate the need for the election of heads of regions.

Meanwhile, V. Prokhorov added, the applicants consider the president's right to dismiss the governor and dissolve local parliaments an important point in their complaint. "The Legislative Assembly approves any presidential candidacy, because the deputies are afraid that otherwise the parliament will be dissolved ," the lawyer said. " And the governors curry favor with the head of state for fear of being fired . "

The Union of Right Forces intends to once again file a complaint with the Constitutional Court on these points in the future.

As Gazeta.Ru reported with reference to Interfax, the judges of the Constitutional Court were not unanimous when considering the case on checking the constitutionality of the new procedure for electing governors.

Thus, judges Anatoly Kononov and Vladimir Yaroslavtsev expressed a dissenting opinion. A. Kononov recalled that earlier the Constitutional Court had already made a decision on the issue of empowering governors - the so-called Altai case. The adopted decision in comparison with the decision on the "Altai case" "changed its sign in the opposite direction" . "For me, as a lawyer, this trend - the violation of human rights - is very disturbing and very sad ," the judge said. The new procedure for appointing governors, according to A. Kononov, violates the electoral rights of citizens.

The judge also considers wrong the decision of the Constitutional Court, which did not consider the complaint of the Union of Right Forces, which asked to check the constitutionality of the norms of this law, which gives the president the authority to dismiss governors for loss of confidence and dissolve the legislative assembly of the region in case of refusal to approve the candidate submitted by the president.

Sources

• The Constitutional Court refused to return the election of governors // Grani.Ru. 2005. December 21.
• Constitutional Court to decide whether Putin has the right to appoint governors // NEWSru.com. 2005. December 21.
• Judge of the Constitutional Court: the law on the appointment of governors violates the electoral rights of citizens // Polit.Ru. 2005. December 21.