Africa-Press – Cape verde. The conflict between the National Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Finance regarding the banking of that electoral authority’s accounts with the Treasury may be in the process of being resolved. The Constitutional Court admitted an injunction filed by the Ombudsman, which stresses the importance of the CNE’s functional independence, financial administrative and patrimonial autonomy.
The Constitutional Court decided to admit the assessment of the constitutionality of Article 1 of Resolution No. 87/X/2022, of December 30, which approves the Private Budget of the National Assembly, in the part in which the National Election Commission is contemplated with an allocation, within the scope of Parliament’s expenses, due to possible non-compliance with the CNE’s principle of independence.
This decision fell on a request for abstract and successive supervision filed by the Ombudsman, José Carlos Delgado, in the exercise of his powers provided for in the Constitution of the Republic.
According to the request of that Ombudsman, to which A NAÇÃO had access, the CNE is an independent constitutional body that works alongside the National Assembly, its members being elected by a qualified majority of two thirds of the deputies, enjoying its own private budget, independence functional, financial and patrimonial administrative autonomy, having to report to Parliament on its functioning through the annual presentation of the activity report and render accounts before the Court of Auditors.
The CNE filed, through the Ombudsman, a precautionary measure with the Constitutional Court requesting the successive and abstract inspection of number 1 of article 28 of the Electoral Code, which gives it financial autonomy and a private budget, outside the budget of the AN.
The decision to proceed with the clarification before the Constitutional Court is related to the fact that CNE is being pressured, both by the Ministry of Finance and by the Court of Auditors, in order to cancel its accounts at commercial banks and carry out banking of their Treasury accounts.
The Ombudsman, within the scope of his constitutional and legal competences, analyzing the issue, considered it “pertinent” to ask the Constitutional Court to analyze the legality of the procedure that has been adopted by the National Assembly, which, instead of approving the private budget of the CNE , has been opting for an endowment in its own private budget.
José Carlos Delgado decided to move forward with the CNE’s request to the Constitutional Court because he understands that the Electoral Code, which is a reinforced two-thirds law, says that the National Election Commission has a private budget that must be approved jointly with the private budget. of the National Assembly.
The Ombudsman also refutes the Government’s thesis that considers that the State Budget Law could supersede the Electoral Code, noting that this is a matter of the hierarchy of laws: “The State Budget is not a law that requires a majority strengthened”.
With this action, which has just been admitted by the TC, the Ombudsman intends to carry out pedagogy and clarify this rule, with a view to the future. Is that the problem of bankarization in the treasury by the CNE may have implications during the electoral process and, in this case, “the problem is deeper”…
In other words, “the CNE is an independent body that organizes elections and should not, at electoral times, depend exclusively on disbursements from the Ministry of Finance”.
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