Legislative elections are a fundamental element of a democratic country. Without genuine and effectively conducted elections, there is no genuine and effective democracy. One of the essential tools of the electoral process is the possibility of judicial review of the lawfulness of the conduct of elections where there arise objective concerns about possible violations that may have affected the outcome of the elections.

These and other findings of the Senate are contained in the compilation of Senate's case-law on the review of the lawfulness of the conduct of the Saeima (Latvian parliament) elections prepared by the Supreme Court.

The compilation summarises and structures the findings of the Senate's Department of Administrative Cases in cases in which it, as a court of first instance, has examined applications appealing against decisions of the Central Election Commission.

The summary is structured according to the three events of appeal against the decisions of the Central Election Commission provided for in the Law on the Election of the Saeima: 1) appeal against the contested minutes of the counting of votes of a precinct commission, 2) appeal against the decision on confirmation of the election results, 3) appeal against the decision on redistribution or non-redistribution of seats.

The compilation is based on the rulings of the Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases adopted between 2006 and 2022. This criterion for the selection of rulings results from the development of the judicial review regulation of the conduct of Saeima elections. In particular, the Law on the Election of the Saeima in its original edition (25 May 1995 ed.) provided that the decision of an election commission could be appealed before the court where the election commission was located and that court decisions were subject to appeal. However, no case has been identified in which the Senate has examined in cassation issues related to the lawfulness of the conduct of the Saeima elections. However, the 5th Saeima elections were held under the Law on the Election of the Saeima of 9 June 1922, which did not provide for judicial review of the lawfulness of the conduct of the elections. In 2006, the Law on the Election of the Saeima was amended by transferring the review of the lawfulness of the election results within the competence of the Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases. The Law established that the Senate would hear these cases as a court of first instance, set relatively short time limits for the consideration of cases and the adoption of a decision, and placed the burden of proof on the parties to the administrative proceedings.

The summary was prepared by the Division of Research and Case-law in coordination with the Senate's Department for Administrative Cases.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211