The application was filed with the court by members of the now-dissolved Rēzekne City Council. The case has been initiated on the compatibility of Sections 1 and 4 of the Law on Dismissal of the Rēzekne City Council and Section 1(3)(2) of the Law on Elections of Local Government Councils with Articles 1 and 101 of the Constitution.
Article 1 of the Law on Dissolution of the Rezekne City Council dissolved the Council, while Article 4 and Article 1(3)(2) of the Law on Elections of Local Government Councils provide that until the next election of the Council, the Rēzekne City Council shall have a temporary administration.
According to the applicant, the contested norms are not proportionate and violate the principle of local self-government, as they deny the right of local self-government to manage its administrative territory in the interests of the residents.
The municipality is now run by an interim administration, which plans to cancel the application and ask the Constitutional Court to annul the case. It would be illogical for the interim administration to maintain the council's application, commented Guna Pūce, head of the interim administration.
"Primarily, it is related to the financial situation of the municipality. In fact, we do not doubt that the deputies themselves, as a group of persons, could apply to the Constitutional Court, but not using the resources of the municipality," said Pūce.
The Constitutional Court explained that since the interim administration had taken over the functions of the dissolved council, it was entitled to make decisions, including in relation to the court application. The next meeting of the administration, when the application could be decided on, is scheduled for next week.
