The Constitutional Court rejected a request by MPs from the 49th National Assembly to give a binding interpretation of a provision of the Constitution in relation to the required majority for the three votes to adopt amendments to the Constitution, the Court said in a statement on Monday.
The request was made by MPs from Vazrazhdane and There Is Such a People (TISP) on November 17. They demand a binding interpretation of Article 155, para. (1) A constitutional amendment shall require a majority of three quarters of the votes of all Members of the National Assembly in three ballots on three different days; and para. (2) A bill which has received less than three quarters but more than two-thirds of the votes of all Members shall be eligible for reintroduction after not fewer than two months and not more than five months. To be passed at this new reading, the bill shall require a majority of two-thirds of the votes of all Members.
All ten constitutional judges were present at the sitting. The order was passed unanimously. It states that the interpretation of the Constitution, concerning the procedure and conditions for the National Assembly to introduce amendments to it, during a process of constitutional changes that has already begun - "creates a risk that the constitutional jurisdiction may displace the unfolding of the democratic process and, in the present case, that the functions of the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court may be mingled".
On December 8, Parliament approved in principle constitutional amendments. They went through on first reading in a 164-66 votes with no abstentions. If adopted, the revisions would reform the judicial system, limit some of the President's powers, and democratize the election of members of regulatory and control authorities.
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