Article 35
2006-12-20
Constitutional experts have been huddling to discuss how ODS,
KDU and the Greens could use rebel votes from ÈSSD to enact
reforms or to call early elections. It's a very complicated issue. If
the new government wins confirmation and wants to force early
elections, it can likely do so, but only by relying again on rebels
and by stalling for three months. The idea, though, that the new
government could use Article 35 to force through reforms seems
to be an intentional misrepresentation of the Constitution. Use
of the dissolution article of the Constitution would in fact likely
guarantee that reforms were not carried out. From a political
standpoint, this misrepresentation is understandable. It's much
more attractive to claim that the new rebel-backed government
will be pro-reform than to admit that its main purpose is to
bring on early elections or to remove Václav Klaus as president.
[Czech Republic KDU-ÈSL Miloš Zeman Melèák]
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