In Slovenia the authority to determine the calling of referendums and dates for elections belongs to the legislative authorities, i.e. the president of the republic. Yet it seems that for the second time this year the guardians of the constitution will be the ones making a decision. The constitutional judges have already decided on the suitability of the date of the referendum on access to Slovenian archives, and this time they will probably have to judge whether the elections for the national assembly in the middle of holidays are legitimate, or not.

Some of the non-parliamentary parties have already announced their request for constitutional assessment on calling the snap elections, were these to take place at the time a large part of electorate takes summer vacations.

Solidarity: The president should postpone the elections by dissolving the National Assembly
The Solidarity party, besides announcing the constitutional complaint, also appealed to the members of parliament to change the constitution and prevent the possibility of elections in July and August. The national assembly should also consider a constitutional charge against the president of the republic in case he calls the snap elections during holidays. Solidarity also suggested the president should postpone the elections by dissolving the parliament. The constitution does not precisely define the term in which the president of the country is obliged to disband the parliament, after establishing that no mandatary has been nominated, or none of the candidates has been approved.

Pahor: I have no discretionary margin
President Pahor on Wednesday refused any delay in dissolving the parliament. "I have no discretionary margin available at dissolving the parliament and calling the elections. I have to follow the terms defined by the constitution, the law, and the rules of procedure. The president is obliged to dissolve the parliament immediately after establishing no mandatary has been nominated, without any arbitrary delays from his part," said Pahor.

Pahor also said that he had estimated that the best of the bad options for the date of the snap elections would be July 13. He is not the only one to blame for the fact that the elections will take place in summer, but also the government which has resigned and thus caused the need for the snap elections. If Bratušek and her government wisely persisted together for at least two more months, the snap elections would have been scheduled for September.

As far as the low participation at election is concerned, especially if the turnout is the same as for the European elections, Pahor said that the people have the right to vote, and that it is only important for the state not to prevent them from doing so. The people have the right to decide whether to participate, or to leave the right to decide in the hands of others.

Threats of impeachment due to delay
Some of the parliamentary parties unofficially mentioned to Pahor that in case of delay in dissolving the parliament they would be willing to file a constitutional charge against him. And they could succeed.

Does Pahor really have no options for delay?
The opinion of legal experts differ regarding the Solidarity's proposal on delay by the president in dissolving the parliament – some claim it is absolutely utopian, the other believe there is a grain of truth in it.

"The constitution stipulates that in case no candidate has been elected as a mandatary, the president of the republic needs to dissolve immediately the national assembly," says Jurij Toplak from the Faculty of Law of the University of Maribor, and continues that if the constitution allowed the president to postpone it for weeks or even months, that would be written in the constitution. If he postponed the dissolving of the national assembly, the constitutional court in his opinion could estimate it as violation of the constitution.

Precedents of the constitutional court
The constitutional lawyer Andraž Teršek from the University Primorska in his comment for the review Pogledi warned that constitutional legal precedents exist about the unsuitability of pre-election and electoral activities for the time of vacations.

"The constitutional court has judged three times that the electoral campaigns and elections must not be held during summer holidays, and especially not in August. Until the constitutional court changes its principled view, no pre-election campaign or elections are allowed during summer holidays, and especially not in August. Until the constitutional court changes its position, the elections are not possible in September either," wrote Teršek.

Gregor Cerar, MMC
Translated by G. K.