Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PRAGUE532
2009-09-09 15:23:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Prague
Cable title:  

CZECH ELECTION TURMOIL: WHAT CAUSED THIS MESS?

Tags:  PGOV EZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHPG #0532/01 2521523
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 091523Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1727
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 000532 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2019
TAGS: PGOV EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH ELECTION TURMOIL: WHAT CAUSED THIS MESS?

REF: A. PRAGUE 523

B. PRAGUE 527

Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission John Law for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 000532

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2019
TAGS: PGOV EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH ELECTION TURMOIL: WHAT CAUSED THIS MESS?

REF: A. PRAGUE 523

B. PRAGUE 527

Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission John Law for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The turmoil surrounding the date of Czech
elections was generated by a legal complaint alleging that
the law Parliament passed to call early elections is
unconstitutional. The Czech Constitution provides four
procedures for dissolving the Chamber of Deputies and calling
early elections. Following the fall of the government
coalition in March 2009, Parliament used a procedure that had
been used before without a challenge, and that is quicker
than the constitutional methods -- but is not specifically
authorized in the Constitution. The heart of the complaint
is that the procedure is not permitted because it is not in
the Constitution, and that the law subverts the democratic
process. Regardless of the legal merits, part of the
election uproar is rooted in a focus on political expediency.
End Summary.

--------------
The Topolanek Government's Fall
--------------


2. (U) When the coalition government led by Mirek Topolanek's
Civic Democrats (ODS) fell in March 2009, the Czechs needed a
new government. The problem was partly solved by an
agreement among political parties to install a caretaker,
temporary government, led by Prime Minister (and former head
of the Czech Statistical Office) Jan Fischer. Parliament
addressed the need for a permanent government by voting to
shorten the term of the current Chamber of Deputies and
calling for elections by October 15. President Klaus signed
the bill into law in June, and on July 1 announced the
election dates of October 9-10.

--------------
What the Constitution Permits
--------------


3. (U) The Constitution of the Czech Republic, adopted in
1993, provides four methods to dissolve the Chamber of
Deputies and call early elections. The Constitution allows
the President to dismiss the Chamber if:

-- 1) the Chamber of Deputies passes a vote of no-confidence
in a newly appointed government whose prime minister was
appointed by the president on the suggestion of the chairman
of the Chamber (under the Constitution, this scenario would
occur after two failed attempts to form a government);
-- 2) the Chamber fails to decide within three months on a

government bill related to a question of confidence;
-- 3) a session of the Chamber is adjourned for a longer
period than permissible (120 days); or
-- 4) the Chamber has not reached a quorum for a period
longer than three months, although its session was not
adjourned and although it was repeatedly called to session
during this period.


4. (U) According to Jiri Leschtina, a respected center-right
commentator for the newspaper Hospodarske Noviny, the authors
of the Constitution intentionally made dissolving the Chamber
difficult to prevent thoughtless and routine toppling of
governments. Karel Klima, Chair of the West Bohemian
University Constitutional Law Department, for example,
opposes efforts to make it easier to dissolve the Chamber,
stating that this should be an exceptional occurrence to
promote Constitutional stability.

-------------- ---
Law Was a Quick Solution Not in the Constitution
-------------- ---


5. (SBU) None of the four Constitutional methods has been
used since the Constitution's adoption in 1993. In 1998,
Parliament approved a bill by a three-fifths vote authorizing
early elections, and then-President Vaclav Havel signed the
bill into law. There were no complaints and the early
elections proceeded as scheduled. Perhaps emboldened by the
1998 law, and looking for a quick solution, legislators used
the same method this year.


6. (SBU) In response to the complaint filed by MP Milos
Melcak against this method, Parliament is moving forward with
a plan to amend the constitution, in effect adding the method
permanently to the constitution. Former Constitutional Court
Justice Vojtech Cepl calls this proposed Constitutional
amendment a "needed change," though unfortunate in that it is
being forced by the current situation. Iva Brozova, Chair of
the Supreme Court, has urged a general amendment that would
provide guidance not only in the current situation, but also

PRAGUE 00000532 002 OF 002


in unpredictable future circumstances.

--------------
The Complaint Against the Law
--------------


7. (SBU) The Melcak complaint argues the early elections law
passed by Parliament and signed by President Klaus violates
the Constitution because the Constitution does not
specifically permit it. The complaint states the law changes
the rules of free, equal, and open political competition by
shortening the four-year term of the Deputies in a way not
provided for by the Constitution. This makes it impossible,
the argument continues, to exercise the four-year mandate
voters gave to the Deputies. Moreover, the change is
retroactive, affecting a Chamber that had already been
elected, not a future election. The complaint deems this
incompatible with principles of a democratic state governed
by the rule of law. In sum, the complaint argues the law
amounts to interference with a basic function of democratic
government.


8. (U) The complaint does not argue that Parliament cannot
pass a Constitutional amendment authorizing the procedure
used this year. Rather, it objects to the "temporary
suspension of procedures stipulated in the Constitution and
ad hoc replacement by a scheme which benefits those political
parties which have the temporary political majority." The
complaint also argues that the so-called "opposition
agreement" of 1998-2002, resulting from the first use of an
extra-Constitutional law to call early elections, had a
terrible impact on democratic institutions, and should not be
used as a precedent. This is not the first criticism of the
1998-2002 agreement. Erik Tabery, Editor-in-Chief of the
esteemed news weekly Respekt, said in his book about the
four-year opposition agreement that the agreement made
democratic institutions less effective and increased
citizens' mistrust of democratic institutions and politics in
general.

-------------- --------------
Unclear Motives, and an Ex-Justice Minister Attorney
-------------- --------------


9. (C) The full story of why Melcak filed the complaint has
not emerged. Melcak was elected to the Chamber as a member
of the Social Democrats (CSSD),but was later expelled from
the party for abstaining during a vote of confidence on the
(then) proposed Topolanek government. Melcak's defection
helped allow the Topolanek coalition government win
Parliamentary confirmation. President Klaus has called
Melcak a "stooge" in the drama. Some commentators have
mentioned Melcak's attorney, Jan Kalvoda, as a potential
instigator of the complaint. Kalvoda was deputy prime
minister and minister of justice from 1992 to 1996, and was
chairman of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA). Details
about his role in initiating the complaint are scant, however.


10. (C) Comment: The Constitutional Court's decision to
review the complaint may be an effort by the judicial branch
to reign in its legislative colleagues, while Parliament's
fast action in taking up a constitutional amendment is an
attempt to fight back. Regardless of motives and legal
arguments, part of the Czech election turmoil is rooted in a
focus on political expediency: CSSD leader Paroubek's
opportunistic overthrow of the Topolanek government in the
middle of the Czech EU Presidency; the establishment of a
temporary caretaker government as a political band-aid; and a
quick-fix election law. End Comment.
Thompson-Jones