Elections to the European Parliament and the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic

The Czech Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of a 5% electoral threshold for elections to the European Parliament in the Czech Republic. The Court’s decision emphasised that by abolishing the 5% threshold the Czech Republic could contribute to the instability of the European Parliament. In the Court’s opinion, the fact that only 21 MEPs are elected in the Czech Republic cannot justify the disregard for the stabilising effect of a reasonable electoral threshold in the EP elections since the Czech Republic shall not behave in the European institutions as an irresponsible “free-loader” that ignores the European dimension of its domestic electoral rules.