bench of the Electoral Court delivers judgment after the case has been conducted orally and in public. (Plaints, however, relative to the lists of candidates may be decided on the motion of the President of the Electoral Court, by a Commission consisting of the President, 3 assessors and a permanent official).
The Electoral Court in its finding states to what extent the election is annulled and, according to circumstances, designates the person who is elected in place of the member whose election has been declared invalid.
The presenting of plaints and documents relative thereto as well as all procedure is exempt from the payment of fees and stamps.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT.
(Act of Parliament of 9 March 1920. No. 162 in the Code of Laws and Regulations.)
Laws promulgated either by the National Assembly or by the Diet of Russinia, which are in conflict with the Charter of the Constitution or with laws amending or supplementing it, are invalid. The decision as to whether a law is valid or not in this sense pertains exclusively to the Constitutional Court. Furthemore this Court is competent to decide whether measures adopted by the Standing Commission under § 54 of the Charter of the Constitution are in conflict with constitutional law (or whether or not they modify the competence of the civil service departments except where it is a matter of enlarging the competence of an office already set up, by imposing new duties upon it).
The Constitutional Court is composed of 7 members, three of whom are nominated by the President of the Republic as follows: the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, and the Diet of Russinia each propose three of their members and the President of the Republic choses one member from each group. The President at the same time nominates one of the three members to be President of the Constitutional Court. Of the remaining 4, two each are taken from the ranks of the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Administrative Court.
For each member a substitute is nominated to sit when necessary and the procedure of nomination is the same as in the case of that of the original member.
The members of the Constitutional Court as well as the substitute members must be persons well versed in the law, eligible for membership of the Senate, and who are neither members of parliament nor civil servants.
The members of the Constitutional Court are nominated for a term of 10 years.
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