Constitutional Assembly elect and Consumer Spokesman Gísli Tryggvason, who is representing a group of those elected to the assembly in November last year, demanded yesterday that the Supreme Court review its decision of January 25 to annul the election.
The Supreme Court of Iceland. Photo by Páll Kjartansson.
They believe the court may have based its verdicts on false prerequisites and demand that either the court abolish its decision or order a recount of the ballots. They ask for a final conclusion to be reached by February 15, which is when the assembly was supposed to convene, Fréttabladid reports.
According to Morgunbladid, Tryggvason also asked that Supreme Court judge Jón Steinar Gunnlaugsson stand aside in this case as he commented on the subject of the lawsuits and the Supreme Court’s decision on television.
When the Supreme Court decided to invalidate the election it was classified as an administrative decision and not an actual ruling, ruv.is reports.
According to administrative laws, people who are party to such cases can ask for a rehearing if the decision is based on unsatisfactory or false information.
The group concluded that the Supreme Court did not fulfill its duties as stated in the administrative laws as it was not thoroughly investigated whether the items mentioned in the lawsuits were based on fact.
The group is especially critical of the Supreme Court’s statement that the ballots were traceable as it is “well-known” that it is common practice at elections to write down the names of voters in the order in which they arrive to the polling stations. Ballots were numbered and so it was possible to find out for whom each person voted, the court reasoned.
According to Fréttabladid, the elects state that this is not at all proven, referencing some of the people who worked on the election’s execution who said the work methods called common practice by the Supreme Court were not practiced in November’s election.
At the same time, representatives of all political parties in the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, are discussing how the Supreme Court’s decision should be responded to. They intend to meet the 25 elects this week.
Click here to read more about the Supreme Court’s argumentation for the invalidation of the Constitutional Assembly election and here to read more about the reactions to it.
