23 August 2022
Is Ethnic Gerrymandering a Solution for the Constitutional Impasse?
Christian Schmidt, the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, had a fit of temper last week. After the draft of the HR's “Decision Enacting the Law on Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina” had been leaked to the public, there had been mass demonstrations. What were the reasons and what is the legal and political background for his outrage? Continue reading >>
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01 July 2019
Bei uns doch nicht! Oder doch?
Wahlkreismanipulationen erschüttern die repräsentative Demokratie in ihren Fundamenten. Trotzdem will der US Supreme Court dagegen nichts unternehmen. Ein rein amerikanisches Problem? Keineswegs. Auch die deutschen Wahlsysteme bieten Anreizstrukturen für "Gerrymandering", wenngleich diese etwas subtiler sind als in den USA. Continue reading >>01 July 2019
Timid Restraint
What the “partisan gerrymandering” case teaches us about the Supreme Court: it demonstrates that the Court continues to display the hallmarks of a private-law, first-generation constitutional court, albeit one that is well aware it is part of a wider, “vertically differentiated” constitutional system. Continue reading >>
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29 June 2019
A Matter of Intent
On constitutional jurisdiction in the EU and the US and other ways to check or boost the right-wing project. Continue reading >>
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26 October 2018
Expanding the Franchise – another Sleight of Hand by the Hungarian Government?
The Hungarian government plans to expand the right to vote in the upcoming European elections to Hungarians living outside the EU. Is the aim of this plan simply to comply with EU law? Or is this another part in the long history of Fidesz trying to manipulate the franchise in their favour? Continue reading >>03 July 2018
How PiS Plans to Tip the Electoral Scales in its Favour
It is summer, the vacation season is near, and the football World Cup is on everybody’s mind. It is hard to think about politics these days... It is not a coincidence that the party ruling in Poland has just now submitted a draft amendment to the Polish law on the elections to the European Parliament. Continue reading >>24 April 2018
Gerrymandering and Judicial Review in Malaysia
On 28 March, the Malaysian Parliament passed new electoral maps. The re-delineated boundaries create an imbalance in constituencies, prompting allegations of mal-apportionment and gerrymandering. They remain largely unchallenged, not only through ouster clauses in particularized elections legislation, but also through the unwillingness of the judiciary to recognize the importance of the constitutional question relating to fair and equitable electoral management. Continue reading >>26 February 2018
Who will Count the Votes in Poland?
In the shadow of an international outcry concerning a grotesque and speech-restrictive Polish law which would punish anyone attributing to Polish nation co-responsibility for crimes during the 2nd World War, a much more dangerous change has been quietly brought about, and just completed. A change which gives the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) necessary mechanisms to “control” the election outcomes. To put it bluntly – a change of the electoral system which will make it possible for PiS to commit electoral fraud allowing it to stay in power, regardless of the voters’ preferences. Continue reading >>
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17 November 2016