The last chance to preserve the election of the head of the capital of Karelia is in the hands of the court

The Supreme Court of Karelia began consideration of the case on invalidating the procedure for adopting the law on a change in the procedure for the appointment of the mayor in Petrozavodsk and Kostomukoksha. The corresponding claim was filed by deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia Alexander and Larisa Stepanov . Deputies advocate the preservation of the popular elections of mayors in these cities.

According to the plaintiffs, the bill on the cancellation of the elections introduced by the Petrozavodsky City Council was adopted in a clear hurry, as evidenced by the time that has passed between the bill to the regional parliament and its adoption in third reading - 18 hours. During this time, the deputies managed to gather at an extraordinary meeting of the relevant committee (on which, by the way, the voices of the deputies were divided equally), enter the Legislative Assembly on the agenda, take another extraordinary meeting of the Committee (during the break in the session, 15 minutes), accept amendments and vote in the second and third readings. However, the regulations of the representative body in most cases do not contain clear indications for the time necessary for the bill passing a particular stage. Which allowed him to accept him on an emergency order.

The deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Alexander Spiridonova, called as a witness, told the court that for three and a half years of work in parliament she would not recall a single case when bills would be adopted in such a hurry. According to her, extraordinary meetings of committees happen, but rarely, and there were no examples of the appointment of two consecutive meetings, one of which would be held in 15 minutes during the break of the session meeting.

The plaintiffs also noted numerous substantive violations of the regulation. Firstly, the draft law was submitted to the Legislative Assembly not an authorized person. The project was introduced on behalf of the Petrosovet by deputy Alexander Khantsevich , while the only person who has the right to act without a power of attorney on behalf of the city council is still the ex-chairman Oleg Fokin . Secondly, an extraordinary meeting of the Committee was held without notifying the deputies of the Stepanovs, who were on vacation, who were also the authors of an alternative bill, which was also considered on the committee. And this is a direct violation of the regulations. The representative of the Legislative Assembly in court could not submit evidence that the deputies of the Stepanovs were notified of an extraordinary meeting of the committee.

According to Alexander Stepanov, as a result of violations of the regulations during an extraordinary meeting of the Committee on Local Self -Government at the main session of the Legislation, its alternative bill was not considered, which suggested the refund of all the heads of municipalities.

Other claims were announced, many of which, however, were declared insolvent during the court session. At the same time, a number of claims of the plaintiffs to the procedure for adopting the law look very convincing. And as a representative of the victim said in court, if the court sees at least one violation of the regulations, the document as a whole can be recognized as illegal and canceled.

The meeting lasted about two and a half hours. The parties to the process to the business were introduced by numerous texts and video documents. At the end of the working day, Judge Roman Solyanikov announced the break of the meeting. It will continue in a week, August 12.

After the meeting, Alexander Stepanov commented on his impressions of the process to the 7x7 correspondent:

- The most important thing is that most of the violations that we have announced are proved. In particular, violations during an extraordinary meeting of the committee and violation of the regulations during the second reading of the bill without its discussion cannot be refuted. This is just some kind of joke: it turns out that we have deputies who can prepare amendments to the law in 15 minutes! It is good that the court drew attention to the fact that the bill was not introduced by an authorized person. This is also a funny story, and although it is a formal moment, it is also important. Well, for now, let's say: the probability of 50 to 50 that we will win the case.

The deputy and reporter Larisa Stepanova also noted that the judge is very attentive to the case, delves into all the subtleties of the legislative process and cannot but pay attention to egregious violations.

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In the morning of the same day, the deputies of the Petrozavodsk City Council, gathered for an extraordinary session, in twenty voices overcame the veto, which mayor Galina Shirshina previously imposed on the decision to make changes to the charter of the city, involving the abolition of the popular elections of the head of Petrozavodsk. Now the corresponding amendments to the charter will be made.

Thus, a legal conflict may develop: changes to the charter of Petrozavodsk should come into force, but the law in accordance with which this was done will be canceled. In this case, obviously, changes to the charter should be recognized as legally insolvent, and the legislative procedure for canceling the elections will have to be repeated first.