Case № 17/ 2013 year Status: Resolved

The list of occurrences for an MP to cease to exercise prerogatives before the expiry of his or her term of office in Art. 72, para 1, items 1-4 of the Constitution is not complete. Reasons for an MP divestment are also laid out in Art. 65, para 1 of the Constitution providing the appropriate occurrences came to have relevance after the election. An MP’s prerogatives may cease before the expiry of his or her term of office solely upon reasons that are unambiguously given in the Constitution while the relevant provisions shall not be subject to latitudinarian interpretation. An MP shall cease to exercise his or her prerogatives before the expiry of his or her term of office subject to a National Assembly’s resolution/decision upon any of the following occurrences: resignation submitted to the National Assembly or an entry into force of a final sentence imposing imprisonment for an intentional criminal offence or if the enforcement of the imprisonment sentence has not been suspended. Legal disputes shall be referred to the Constitutional Court to be resolved by it. National Assembly’s resolutions and Constitutional Court’s decisions on an MP’s divestment shall take effect henceforward/ex nunc. Unless the National Assembly adopts its resolution or the Constitutional Court renders its decision on an MP’s divestment, the MP shall continue to enjoy the status. Whenever the National Assembly elects an MP as the head of an institution established by law, the resolution that concerns the election shall not contain any of the elements that make up a resolution under Art. 72, para 2 of the Constitution. The National Assembly shall be free to compress into one resolution the election of an MP as the head of an institution that is established by law and the MP’s divestment on the basis of a resignation that the MP has presented. Whenever the National Assembly elects an MP as the head of the institution established by law and the MP expresses a desire to take public office, he or she shall have to submit his or her resignation to the National Assembly and the Assembly shall be bound to accept it and thereby end the incompatibility. Should the National Assembly reject the MP’s resignation or if a resignation has not been submitted, the dispute is referred to the Constitutional Court to be resolved by it.