Aldis Laviņš elected to the position of the Constitutional Court’s Vice-president
Today, on 28 October, election of the Vice-president of the Constitutional Court was held at the Constitutional Court’s hearing. The Judges elected from among themselves Aldis Laviņš to the position of the Constitutional Court’s Vice-president.
Judges of the Constitutional Court. From left: Aldis Laviņš, Jānis Neimanis, Artūrs Kučs, Gunārs Kusiņš, Sanita Osipova. Photo: Constitutional Court.
Aldis Laviņš has served as the Judge of the Constitutional Court since 25 April 2014. From 6 May 2014 to 6 May 2017 he was the President of the Constitutional Court.
Information about Vice-president of the Constitutional Court Aldis Laviņš is available here.
The Vice-president of the Constitutional Court helps the Court’s President to perform the duties of office and replaces the Court’s President during his or her absence.
Sanita Osipova, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and Aldis Laviņš, Vice-president of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia. Photo: Constitutional Court.
Taking into account the epidemiological safety measures that are still established in the state to restrict the spread of Covid-19, the election of the Constitutional Court’s President was held remotely, in a videoconference regime. The secret ballot was organised by using an electronic voting system.
Video recording of the court hearing is available here [in Latvian]:
The election process
The election is held at an open court hearing. The candidates for the position of the Constitutional Court’s Vice-president are proposed during the hearing. Each candidate states, whether he or she agrees to being nominated.
The Constitutional Court’s Vice-president is elected for the term of three years by the Constitutional Court’s Judges from among themselves by secret ballot, with the absolute majority vote of the composition of the Court’s Judges.
Pursuant to the Constitutional Court Law, if several candidates for the position of the Constitutional Court’s Vice-president have been proposed and none of them gains the necessary number of votes during the first round of election, the vote with respect to all candidates is repeated. If nobody is elected then the election is continued, in each successive round of election excluding the candidate, who has received the smallest number of votes in the previous round, it is continued until one of the candidates receives the required number of votes.
If the necessary number of votes is not obtained in the last round of election or if only one candidate has been proposed and he or she does not gain the necessary number of votes to be elected, the candidates are proposed anew. The Judges, who had been nominated in the previous rounds of election and did not obtain the necessary number of votes, can be nominated repeatedly.