Possible Re-election: Election Date Before May Not Very Likely

In addition to a new election resolution of the National Council, it is necessary to announce the election by a regulation in the Federal Law Gazette. There must be 82 days between the set date in the Federal Law Gazette and the actual date of the National Council election.

Duration from New Election Decision to Election about Three Months

First and foremost, however, the dissolution of the National Council requires a resolution of the same by a simple majority. The basis for this is a legislative initiative for a federal law that prematurely ends the legislative period. This must be certified by the Federal President, countersigned by the Federal Chancellor and then announced in the Federal Law Gazette. The entry into force of the federal law forms the basis for the announcement of new elections. Theoretically, the National Council can also be dissolved by the Federal President on the proposal of the government, which, however, has never happened in the Second Republic.

Back to the further procedure: After the new election resolution, the election must be announced by the federal government by regulation in the Federal Law Gazette. This must include the election day, which is determined by the federal government in agreement with the main committee of the National Council. In addition, the regulation must contain the cut-off date, which must be on the eighty-second day before the election day. From this date, various deadlines begin to run, such as those for the appointment of the district election leaders, the assessors and for the constitution of the election authorities. But also various prerequisites of the right to vote, the eligibility or also the collection of the support declarations of the smaller parties are determined from it. From the new election resolution to the election, it therefore takes about three months.

Numerous Steps Needed for New Election Application

The National Council will meet on January 22 for its next planned session. Of course, a special session could be convened beforehand by 20 deputies or all deputies of a club, provided it does not have more than 20 deputies. In this case, the National Council must meet within eight working days. Theoretically, this would be possible before January 22. In any case, the new election application must be introduced in a session and then assigned to the constitutional committee, dealt with there and approved in the plenary. This can be done in two plenary days; if necessary, a deadline could also be set to bypass a committee decision and the application could be approved on the day of submission.

Once the National Council has decided on its dissolution, the Council of Ministers must decide on the regulation with the election date and the cut-off date 82 days before. This regulation must also contain the request to the main committee to confirm the date - and the request to the Federal President to make this public by announcement in the Federal Law Gazette. Assuming that the parliamentary procedure and the announcement take at least two to three weeks, a new election date before May is hardly possible. For a ballot on April 27, the cut-off date would be February 4. For an election on the first weekend in May (May 4), the cut-off date would fall on February 11.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.