“I consider (…) dangerous and legally wrong ideas to remove PAD from office through a national referendum on shortening his term of office,” wrote Prof. on the X platform. Marcin Matczak, referring to the proposal of constitutionalist Prof. Marek Chmaj on the dismissal of President Andrzej Duda through a referendum.
Chmaj’s proposal
After being confronted with the opportunity to take power in Poland, the opposition prefers to take revenge, rather than be satisfied with the election results and present a positive program to Poles. creating increasingly radical concepts, for example regarding the impeachment of the president.Andrzej Duda ex officio.
While such bizarre ideas as dismissing the head of state through a referendum can be forgiven to former President Lech Wałęsa, who – as is well known – has no higher legal education, in the mouth of experts such as Prof. Marek Chmaj sounds like are disturbing to say the least.
READ ALSO: High! Prof. Chmaj talks about the possibility of dismissing the president through a referendum. Wałęsa wrote about it before. Storm on the Internet
““Dangerous and legally incorrect ideas”
Not only lawyers who have become politically involved in the Law and Justice community (for example Krzysztof Szczucki, who referred to this statement in an interview with wPolityce.pl) pay attention to the absurdity of the concept that Chmaj presented in the “Super Express” program “Dudek o Politics”. ), where President Andrzej Duda comes from. Also certainly closer to the opposition was Prof. Marcin Matczak decided to cool the enthusiasm of vindictive politicians, lawyers and voters.
At the beginning of the contribution on the Court and the Supreme Court).
However, I consider the ideas of removing PAD from office through a nationwide referendum on shortening his term as dangerous and legally wrong.
– wrote Marcin Matczak.
Procedures in law have a fixed function – each procedure serves a purpose and populist researchers argue (e.g. Nicola Lacey) that a sudden change in function is a symptom of populist power
– he pointed.
““Let’s not go down this road”
The lawyer points out that the referendum instrument is intended to “find out the nation’s opinion on issues important to Poland.”
In that sense it is a general procedure that lawyers call ‘lex generalis’. If there are other procedures intended for a particular purpose (“lex specialis”), they must be used in a particular case
– emphasizes and adds that special procedures on many issues do not exist in Polish law.
There is no procedure in the Constitution to decide whether Poland wants to switch our energy sector from coal to nuclear energy. So you can organize a referendum on this issue (I tried to find a less controversial example, but I don’t know if I succeeded)
– writes Matczak.
However, if you want to remove the president from office, you have at least two constitutional procedures at your disposal, designed specifically for this purpose: the first is the presidential elections, scheduled for 2025. The second is to bring the president before the State Tribunal and dismiss him from office
– underlined.
An attempt to follow the general procedure because one does not want to wait for the elections or does not have sufficient democratic legitimacy to bring PAD before the Court of Justice is a clear circumvention of constitutional law, motivated by populism.
– he adds.
In summary, it recalls that the legal formulation proclaiming the superiority of a specific provision over a general provision: “lex specialis derogat legi generali” also applies in this matter.
Let’s not go down this road
– appeals Matczak.
Ajax
Source: wPolityce