The Topical Issues of the Generality of the Right to Vote

The author deals with the very topical problem of guaranteeing the constitutional principle of the generality of the right to vote. Contrary to the constitutional regulation (Charter of Fundamental Rights and Liberties and the Constitution of the Czech Republic), which have the citizenship and certain age as the only conditions of attaining the right, the election law sets as additional conditions also legal capacity, permanent adress in the Czech Republic and the residence in the territory of one of the election districts on the day of the elections. However, the constitutional acts presume that the election law determine only some additional requirements for the performance of the right to vote, not for its attaning. Yet the courts in the Czech Republic have failed to deal with this contradiction as yet. The author comes to the conclusion that the Czech Republic observes in its election legislation the constitutional principle of the generality of the right to vote. However, certain space for further broadening and elaborating of the related legislation still exists. Especially the conditions under which the right to vote may be attained by Czech citizens living abroad, Slovak citizens living permanently in the Czech Republic, provide reciprocity is observed and the citizens with limited legal capacity are concerned. As for the conditions of the performance of the right to vote the author maintains that the problem could possibly be solved by introducing new ways of voting, e.g. by letter, by representative or by establishing special election districts at Czech embassies abroad. The article contains proposals de lege ferenda.