The Attorney General’s Office has stated that the government's actions regarding the public referendum to determine whether to hold the Presidential and Parliamentary elections simulatenously have, to date, been carried out in accordance with the principles set forth in the Constitution and the law.
The Attorney General’s Office issued this statement after two cases were filed in the Supreme Court against the office seeking to stop the referendum.
In the statement, the AG Office noted that information is being spread in a way that misleads the general public regarding the public referendum and the procedures envisioned by law for conducting such a vote.
The referendum, which has been decided to be held alongside the upcoming Local Council elections, is a vote to seek the people's opinion on whether the President should ratify the bill passed by the Parliament to amend the Constitution.
The AG Office stated that the bill for the 8th amendment to the Constitution was drafted to achieve two objectives.
The first objective is to hold the Parliamentary elections simultaneously with the Presidential elections. The second objective is to facilitate this administratively by changing the method of calculating the Parliament's term, so that the term begins on December 1st, and shortening the term of the current Parliament to less than five years.
The statement noted that considering how the constitutional system is structured by the Constitution, certain amendments to the Constitution cannot be ratified or implemented without the say of the people.
As the specific article being amended in the bill for the 8th amendment to the Constitution to change the Parliament term calculation is Article 79 (a) of the Constitution, the statement highlighted that the bill can only be ratified and implemented if the citizens participating in the referendum, as stipulated in Article 262 (b) of the Constitution, favor the ratification of the bill.
The Attorney General’s Office stated that in circumstances where a public referendum is mandatory, it must be determined by a decree signed and issued by the President. The law stipulates that such a decree must include the full phrasing of the issue or question being submitted for the people’s opinion, the reason for requesting the people’s opinion on the matter, and the duration requested for the vote.
The AG Office also noted that in accordance with that procedure, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has issued the decree to take a public referendum on the bill for the 8th amendment to the Constitution.
According to the AG Office's statement, Article 262 (b) of the Constitution mandates that a vote be taken to see if the people consent to amending any of the matters stated in that article. The procedure for doing so is detailed in the Act on Public Referendums.
The statement asserted that the question submitted for the people’s opinion, prior to the ratification of the bill to bring amendments regarding the two elections, is a question that aligns with those legal procedures.
The statement said that since the question posed to the people allows for the assessment of whether or not they favor the implementation of the principle introduced by amending Article 79 (a) of the Constitution through the 8th amendment, the condition envisioned by the Constitution in this regard would be considered fulfilled.
"Interpreting this in any other way would conflict with legal and constitutional principles," the statement said.
