The election of the Constitutional Court’s President will be held on 14 October
On Wednesday, 14 October at 10:00, a hearing of the Constitutional Court will be convened to hold the election of the Constitutional Court’s President.
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 will be held remotely, in a videoconference regime.
The court hearing will be streamed on the homepage of the Constitutional Court and the Court’s Youtube account:
The duties of the Constitutional Court’s President include organising the administrative work of the Court, chairing the court hearings as well as representing the Court on the national and the international level.
Until the new President of the Constitutional Court is elected, the official duties of the President are performed by Vice-president Sanita Osipova.
As reported previously, 2 October of this year was the last day of work for the previous President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele. The Council of the European Union by its decision of 2 September No. (EU) 2020/1251 appointed Ineta Ziemele into the office of a Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereafter – CJEU) for the remaining term of mandate of ormer CJEU Judge Egils Levits – until 6 October 2024.
The election process
The election is held at an open court hearing. The candidates for the position of the Constitutional Court’s President are proposed during the hearing. Each candidate states, whether he or she agrees to being nominated.
The Constitutional Court’s President is elected for the term of three years by the Constitutional Court’s Justices from among themselves by secret ballot, with the absolute majority vote of the composition of the Court’s Justices.
Pursuant to the Constitutional Court Law, if several candidates for the position of the Constitutional Court’s 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 Justices, who had been nominated in the previous rounds of election and did not obtain the necessary number of votes, can be nominated repeatedly.