Austrian Constitutional Court: The Annulment of the Run-off for the Presidency
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Stefan Leo Frank
Abstract
In this judgment the Austrian Constitutional Court pronouned that the runoff election of the Federal President had to be repeated in its entirety in all of Austria. It held that the system of postal voting is in conformity with the constitutional principles of voting in person and secrecy of ballots. However, votes may only be handled and counted by the collegiate election boards, the representative composition of which is seen as a specific guarantee for a transparent and impartial carrying out of elections. If state authorities transmit results of the vote count prior to the closing of the election, this runs counter to the principle of freedom of voting. A challenge to an election must be allowed if proven infringements of legal provisions aiming to prevent manipulations affect a decisive number of votes, regardless of whether or not manipulations have actually occurred.
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- On the Relationship between International Law and International Constitutionalism
- Narratives of Constitutionalization in the European Union Court of Justice and in the European Court of Human Rights’ Case Law
- A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire
- Constitutional Developments
- Austrian Constitutional Court: The Annulment of the Run-off for the Presidency
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Presidential Election – Analysis in the Light of the previous Jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Presidential Election – Violation of the Principle of Free Elections
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Presidential Election – Counterevidence and Influence of New Media
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Vegan Landowner Must Tolerate Hunting on his Property
- Hungarian Constitutional Court: The Limits of EU Law in the Hungarian Legal System
- Bosnian Constitutional Court: Unconstitutionality of the ‘Day of the Republic’
- Book Review
- Khaitan Tarunabh: A Theory of Discrimination Law
- David Kennedy: A World of Struggle: How Power, Law, and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- On the Relationship between International Law and International Constitutionalism
- Narratives of Constitutionalization in the European Union Court of Justice and in the European Court of Human Rights’ Case Law
- A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire
- Constitutional Developments
- Austrian Constitutional Court: The Annulment of the Run-off for the Presidency
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Presidential Election – Analysis in the Light of the previous Jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Presidential Election – Violation of the Principle of Free Elections
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Presidential Election – Counterevidence and Influence of New Media
- Austrian Constitutional Court: Vegan Landowner Must Tolerate Hunting on his Property
- Hungarian Constitutional Court: The Limits of EU Law in the Hungarian Legal System
- Bosnian Constitutional Court: Unconstitutionality of the ‘Day of the Republic’
- Book Review
- Khaitan Tarunabh: A Theory of Discrimination Law
- David Kennedy: A World of Struggle: How Power, Law, and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy
