Distinctive Features of Consideration of Cases by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Concerning Compliance of the Issue Submitted to Referendum of the Russian Federation with the Constitution of Russia

One should distinguish between procedures employed to verify constitutionality of issues submitted to a referendum and referendum initiatives that, in the author's standpoint, are separate procedures of constitutional review. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation exemines the compliance of the issue submitted to the referendum for its compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is the only court that has an exclusive right to bring such matters before the court. The case is initiated if (1) ambiguity is discovered with regard to the question of whether the issue submitted to referendum complies with the Constitution of the Russian Federation; (2) the Decision of the Central Election Commission of the RF (CEC) that confirms the CEC ruling concerning non-compliance of the issue submitted to referendum with the Constitution of the RF is appealed in the Supreme Court of the RF. The reason for the proceedings involves an application in the form of request. The request is acceptable if the the CEC passed a decision claiming that the issue submitted to referendum is not in compliance with the Constitution of the RF and the decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The issue subject to the review in analogous cases is the issue submitted to referendum. The main criteria for the review is the content of the issue submitted to referendum from the standpoint of its compliance with the Constitution of the RF, differentiation of jurisdictions and powers between state authorities of the Russian Federation and state authorities of the constituent entities of the RF. We consider, it is necessary to determine procedural deadlines for such cases to be considered. The case proceedings may result in making a decision concerning either compliance or non-conliance of the issue submitted to referendum with the Constitution of the RF. As it seems to us, the legal consequence of the decision on compliance of the issue submitted to referendum with the Constitution of the RF amounts to declaration of the CEC decision illegal by the Supreme Court of the RF. The legal consequence of the decision on non-compliance of the issue submitted to referendum with the Constitution of the RF amounts to cessation of the procedures implemented to hold referendum. The paper concludes that proceedings with regard to reviewing constitutionality of the issue submitted to the Federal Referendum cover a separate procedure of constitutional control that has its own specifics. Therefore, it is necessary to include into the Federal Constitutional Law "On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation" chapters devoted to this procedure.

Constitutional Court, constitutional review, constitutional rule of law, constitutional justice, Constitution, referendum, referendum initiative, issue submitted to referendum, constitutional legality, constitutionality

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