Constitutional Court

The Applicant, the Deputy Chairperson for Communities of the Peja Municipal Assembly, filed a Referral pursuant to Article 62.4 of the Constitution, asserting that a decision of the Peja Municipal Assembly infringed the right to effective legal remedies and the right to election. The Applicant argued that the Municipal Assembly acted unlawfully by allowing its Chairperson to cast a deciding vote for election of the Deputy Mayor for Communities when the votes of members of the Assembly representing the Communities were split equally. The Applicant contended that the Assembly acted unlawfully when denying his requests for annulment of the election pursuant to Article 61.3 of the Law on Local Self-Government, and for a new election, The Court found that the Referral was admissible because it alleged a specific breach of constitutionally guaranteed rights, and because the Referral was submitted by the Deputy Chairperson for Communities, a person authorized to do so under Articles 62.3 and 62.4 of the Constitution, On the merits of the Referral, the Court held that the deciding vote cast by the Assembly Chairperson was an impermissible influence on the election of the Deputy Mayor for Communities. The Court reasoned that only Municipal Assembly members from non-majority communities were authorized to cast votes, and that election of the Deputy Mayor for Communities must be decided by a majority vote, which did not occur in this instance, Accordingly, the Court issued a Judgment finding a violation of Articles 45, 54 and 57 of the Constitution, declaring that the election of the Deputy Mayor for Communities was void, ordering a new election for Deputy Mayor for Communities, and requiring the Assembly to report to the Court regarding its compliance with the judgment within 90 days of its publication