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Constitutional act no. 319/2009 Coll.

Although the constitutional amendment introduced by the constitutional act no. 319/2009 Coll. might seem as a minor tweak of the procedure leading to dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, it is nothing less than a follow-up of a major constitutional crisis. 

Unstable majorities and frequent occurrences of stalemate situations have troubled the Czech political system since its beginning. Already in the 1990s, there was the minority government led by Václav Klaus (1996 – 1998) or the “opposition agreement” government of Miloš Zeman (1998 – 2002). It was in early 1998, following the resignation of the second Klaus’s government, that we first encountered the problem that is addressed by the aforementioned constitutional act.

The political parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies in early 1998 came to a conclusion that creation of a stable “traditional” government is out of question. On the other hand, a possibility that a caretaker government could lead the country until the election in 2000 (the date of election foreseen by the Constitution) was rejected as well. A snap election was considered the only acceptable alternative. Before the adoption of the constitutional act n. 319/2009 Coll., however, the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies was a rather lengthy process (see art. 35 para. 1 of the Constitution and the herein mentioned possibilities). The fastest way to a “premeditated” dissolution was arguably provided for by art. 35 para. 1/a of the Constitution (if the Chamber of Deputies does not adopt a resolution of confidence in a newly appointed government, the Prime Minister of which was appointed by the President of the Republic on the basis of a proposal of the Chairperson of the Chamber of Deputies: i. e. the third attempt to create a government). Therefore a one-shot constitutional act was adopted (no. 69/1998 Coll.) that shortened the term of the Chamber of Deputies elected in 1996 but left the general term length (4 years) intact.

Despite some doubts about constitutionality of such an approach, the situation was practically repeated in 2009. After the fall of the second Topolánek’s government, a caretaker government led by Jan Fischer was appointed, but majority of relevant political parties preferred a fast way to snap election. For this reason a one-shot constitutional act that once again shortened the term of the Chamber of Deputies was adopted (n. 195/2009 Coll.). The Constitutional Court struck this constitutional act down and made it clear that it considers one-shot circumventions of constitutional rules to be inconsistent with basic principles of a democratic state based on the rule of law.

The commented constitutional amendment therefore introduced a solution that allows for a fast dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, yet one that is free of the major constitutional flaw mentioned by the Constitutional Court. The new provision (art. 35 par. 2) of the Constitution was not used in 2009, but its application ultimately led to snap election in 2013.