Does the Two-Term Tenure of Office of Executive Bodies of Municipal Self-Government Constitute a Limitation of the Principle of Self-Government, Freedom of Elections and Passive Voting Rights?

Abstract

The amendment to the Election Code introduced before the start of the 2018–2024 local government term, which excluded the possibility of persons holding executive authority positions from seeking election for a third term in a given municipality, led to a heated discussion of both the advisability of its introduction and the constitutionality of the new regulation. It has been alleged by a wide range of people, primarily by constitutionalists and members of the local government, that the principle of two-term tenure of office for mayors and heads of municipalities deprives some citizens of the passive suffrage guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The compliance of the new regulations with other fundamental principles of the state system, as well as with provisions stemming from major international documents, is equally questionable. The article, based on the necessary analysis of legal provisions, with the application of the functional method supported by the formal-dogmatic and historical method, attempts to answer the questions concerning both the constitutionality of the regulations on the two-term limit for heads of municipalities and the purposefulness of such a law in consideration of the premises of the administrative reform carried out in 1990. The author, as a result of the analysis, advocates the implementation of legislative changes aimed at ensuring the independence of local government from the political will of central legislative authorities, as well as the continuation of the civil society development.