16 January 2023
Judicial Impartiality in Indonesia Under Attack
The independence of judicial power in Indonesia is in a precarious situation. Lately, the parliament haphazardly dismissed Constitutional Judge Aswanto, a parliament-proposed Constitutional Judge. This situation was exacerbated through the inauguration of the parliament-proposed substitute, Constitutional Judge Guntur Hamzah, by President Widodo who could have refused to authorize this illegal act. Instead, President Widodo took part in the destruction of the Constitutional Court, putting judicial independence in Indonesia in jeopardy, particularly facing the upcoming 2024 election. Continue reading >>
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01 November 2022
The Swedish Change of Government
With the current turbulences of British politics, Sweden may come across as a quiet Nordic country where not much is happening. Surprisingly little has been written about the Swedish elections from a legal perspective. On September 11, 2022, Swedes voted for a center-rightwing coalition with support from the far right. The purpose of this blog post is to discuss whether the Swedish election is as dangerous as it has been portrayed or if it (simultaneously) represents a mainstreaming of Swedish laws with some of the EU legal framework and is perhaps likely to activate Swedish courts to refer to EU courts more often. Continue reading >>
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29 September 2022
What’s Next, Bro?
On September 25th, nearly 51 million Italians were called to the polls to elect the 19th Parliament of the Republic since 1948. All domestic and international media focused their attention on the two main novelties of this election: a landslide victory by a post-fascist, nationalistic, anti-European right-wing party and the paradox of the first female Prime Minister advocating a hyper-conservative view of women in society. Politically, these are no doubt major news. At the same time, Mrs. Meloni and her government-to-be is an unwritten piece of paper. Continue reading >>
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22 September 2022
The Armed Forces and the Constitution in Brazil
The Armed Forces are back in power in Brazil. This time, differently from 1937 and 1964, it happened through elections. As one of the main supporting groups behind Jair Bolsonaro’s electoral victory in 2018, the military’s role in his government continued to grow. I argue that, firstly, the text addressing the military functions in the Constitution of 1988 repeats the same mistakes made by past Brazilian constitutions; and secondly, that the South American countries’ constitutional framework points out attractive alternative constitutional design options on the topic. Continue reading >>
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20 September 2022
Bolsonarism at the Ballot Box
If things go badly, the upcoming elections in Brazil may be the last ones for some time to come. Incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro threatens to use the Trump playbook to dispute a possible election loss, counting on the violent support of his highly mobilized followers and parts of the Brazilian military nostalgic for the military dictatorship. His contender, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who initially refused to wear a bullet proof vest, has now taken wear one on his rallies. During his tenure, Bolsonaro has drawn on populist anti-establishment sentiments and authoritarian legacies to develop his own, peculiar brand of illiberal rule known as Bolsonarism. Our symposium discusses Bolsonarism at the ballot box from the perspective of comparative constitutional law. Continue reading >>
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13 August 2022
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
In Brazil, the National Congress recently passed the Constitutional Amendment no. 123, nicknamed the “Kamikaze Bill” due to it budgetary impact. It qualifies the current situation – inflation, rise of gasoline price, shortage of goods, pandemic to name just a few – as an emergency state, creating financial and tax benefits for biofuel producers and providing welfare payments for part of the population. Continue reading >>
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07 April 2022
The Blame for Defeat and the Morality of Politics
The increased support of Fidesz by the majority of voters, who casted votes on 3 April despite Orbán’s immoral stance towards Putin’s war, and also these voters’ little appreciation of freedom and almost none for limiting power, raises the question whether, besides the autocrat, the opposition, and the elite, we cannot blame also the ‘people’ for the opposition’s defeat and Fidesz’s victory. Continue reading >>06 April 2022
Why They Win
It is difficult for us to acknowledge that populist illiberalism is successful and, until it is confronted by a serious economic crisis, cannot be replaced by elections. That, however, seems to be the case, at least in a society where there is little appreciation for freedom and almost none for limiting power. Let us at least be honest with ourselves: such electoral victories can hardly be explained by anything else. Continue reading >>
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04 April 2022
Why We Lost
The united opposition in Hungary has suffered a crushing defeat at the parliamentary elections yesterday. Some of my friends and acquaintances will blame for the outcome the new electoral rules produced by Viktor Orbán’s government, and his high degree of control over electronic and printed media. They will be wrong, as they often were before. We lost! And by numbers that completely falsify the electoral rule thesis, that suggested in all its versions that the rules give Fidesz 3-5 % advantage. Continue reading >>28 January 2022
Voting in the Pandemic
On Sunday, 30 January 2022, Portugal will go to the ballots on a snap election. Despite some initiatives to adapt the legal framework of the right to vote to the challenges of a pandemic, the amendments failed to accommodate the cases of persons under compulsory quarantine on election day, disenfranchising hundred thousands of voters in 2020-2021. Ironically, the severity of the new variant Omicron, possibly limiting the rights of up to a million voters, appears to restore the right to vote, even though on a dubious legal basis. Continue reading >>
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