The Constitutional Court has rejected the Sardinian law which allows four consecutive mandates to the mayors of municipalities with a population of up to three thousand inhabitants, and three to those of towns with a population of up to five thousand inhabitants.

Therefore, the rule introduced with the reorganization of local authorities approved in April of last year does not respect the fundamental charter: according to the Consulta, the right to stand for election is a matter that must be regulated by state legislation, in a uniform way on the whole national territory.

And in the other regions, according to a note from the Court, "the mayors of municipalities with a population of less than five thousand inhabitants can hold three consecutive terms and the mayors of the other municipalities two".

The Sardinian law is in contrast «with the principle envisaged in article 51 of the Constitution. The latter, in order to protect the fundamental right to passive electorate, requires that all citizens of both sexes have access to elected offices in conditions of equality".

The sentence explains that the provision of the maximum number of consecutive elective mandates of mayors, "introduced as a considered counterbalance to their direct election, serves to guarantee various rights and principles of constitutional rank: effective level playing field between candidates, freedom to vote of individual voters and the overall genuineness of the electoral competition, the physiological turnover of the political class and, ultimately, the very democratic nature of local authorities".

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)

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