Political parties and movements are free to decide to cooperate as recognised or unrecognised coalitions, and both options have their advantages and disadvantages, the Czech Constitutional Court decided yesterday.
The court therefore rejected the complaint filed by the extra-parliamentary party Volt Czechia, which demanded that the unrecognised coalitions of Stacilo! (‘Enough!’) and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) be de-registered for next week’s general election. Volt had turned to the Constitutional Court after its complaints were rejected in the regional courts.
Representatives of Stacilo! and SPD welcomed the court’s decision. A spokesman for Stacilo! and the Communist Party, Roman Roun, told CTK that the ruling confirmed that Stacilo! was not a hidden coalition, as it had maintained from the start, and that voters would decide the outcome of the parliamentary elections in nine days.
Coalitions must cross a higher threshold than the 5% required for parties running alone in the elections – 8% or 11% depending on the number of entities in the coalition. However, different rules apply to unrecognised coalitions in terms of funding or the formation of parliamentary groups. Following the Constitutional Court’s decision, the basic 5% threshold will apply to Stacilo! and SPD.
After the decision was announced, a spokesperson for Volt Czechia, Duy Hoang Do, told CTK that his party had done all it could to prevent hidden coalitions from entering the lower house in such an unfair way.
“They had an easier situation,” he said. “Now, it is the voters’ turn to decide if they want the fascists, Communists and the Social Democrats to get into the lower house again in this unfair way.”
He added that, after the elections, the party may turn to the Supreme Administrative Court, which hears complaints from parties about the election results.
The constitutional complaint also called for the definition of coalitions in the law on parliamentary elections to be legally struck down.
The judges stressed, however, that yesterday’s ruling should not be interpreted as saying that the current legal regulation of coalitions is ideal or the only possible system.
“In a situation where the contested legislation is not unconstitutional, it is only a matter for the legislators to decide how to approach the problem raised and whether to listen to the arguments against the appropriateness of the current legislation,” stated the ruling by Judge Milan Hulmak.
Politicians had an opportunity to amend the regulation of coalitions in the new law on election administration, which will come into force on 1 January, but no changes were made.
Stacilo! and SPD therefore need only cross the 5% threshold to win representation in the lower house, while the Spolu coalition of the Civic Democrats (ODS), TOP 09 and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) needs to win at least 11%.
Representatives of the extra-parliamentary Tricolour, Svobodni and PRO parties are running on the SPD lists, and politicians from the Communists (KSCM), Social Democrats (SOCDEM) and four other small parties are running for Stacilo! The opposition Pirates also have members of the Greens on their ballot in some regions.
“Which of the two cooperation regimes political parties decide to adopt is an expression of their free will,” said the court president Josef Baxa yesterday. “Each of these options has specific advantages and disadvantages, the evaluation of which is part of the political consideration of the parties involved.”
Baxa said the constitutional judges had ruled unanimously in a plenary session, taking just one week to do so.
Volt Czechia had pointed out in the regional courts that the candidate lists of Stacilo! and SPD also included members of other parties or movements. The regional courts rejected the complaint against the registration of these two lists, saying they did not wish to intervene forcefully in the elections, even though some agreed that the hidden coalitions were a circumvention of the election law, probably in order to avoid the higher threshold. Volt then turned to the Constitutional Court.
“The siren song of formalism, which tempts to conveniently overlook the substance and pushes the ark of electoral justice onto the rocks of unequal competition, must be resisted once and for all,” read one of Volt Czechia’s complaints.
“As a result of today’s rejection of the Constitutional Court’s resolution of Volt Czechia’s complaints, the number of unrecognised coalitions will increase dramatically before the next elections to the Chamber of Deputies. What Stacilo! is doing today, everyone will do next time, because it is allowed,” said lawyer Tomas Nahodil.
The elections to the lower house of Czech parliament will be held on October 3-4.
