–Giorgio Grasso, Full Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Insubria (Italy) On 29 January, Parliament in joint session, made up of regional delegates, re-elected Sergio Mattarella as President of the Italian Republic. Following on from President Giorgio Napolitano in 2013, for the second time in Italian constitutional history a President of the Republic has been
The Constitutional Chamber in El Salvador and Presidential Reelection: Another Case of Constitutional Authoritarian-Populism
—José Ignacio Hernández G., Fellow, Growth Lab-Center for International Development Harvard; Professor of Administrative Law at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello; Invited Professor, Universidad Castilla-La Mancha, and Tashkent University. A few months after the mass removal of the constitutional judges in El Salvador, the new Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court issued ruling number 1-2021, dated
When Judges Unbound Ulysses: the Case of Presidential Reelection in El Salvador
—Manuel Adrian Merino Menjivar, Professor of Constitutional Law, Universidad Gerardo Barrios, El Salvador In Ulysses Unbound, Jon Elster understands constitutions as a precommitment made by the people to themselves. According to the myth on which he bases his metaphor, when Ulysses returned from the Trojan War, he had to pass through the Isle of Sirens,
How Many Times can Erdoğan be a Presidential Candidate?
—Tolga Şirin, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Marmara University, Turkey. Turkey’s new ‘presidentialism alla Turca’ has almost completed its fourth and a half years. The constitutional amendment supporters in the 2017 referendum claimed that the new system would stabilize and strengthen the country and bring a breakthrough in the economic and legal fields. These claims did
The Other Side of the Party Fragmentation Paradox in Brazil: A Re-Election Booster?
—Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, University of Brasília and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development In my previous post “The Party Fragmentation Paradox in Brazil: A Shield Against Authoritarianism”, I argued that, paradoxically, party fragmentation may “serve as a shield against radical and authoritarian intents by the executive power.” The continuous battle Brazil’s President Bolsonaro had
There are Still Judges in Berlin: On the Proposal to Amend the Ecuadorian Constitution to Allow Indefinite Presidential Reelection
—Carlos Bernal Pulido, Macquarie Law School Es gibt noch Richter in Berlin!, There are still judges in Berlin! was the well-known acclamation of the humble miller, when he learned that the Prussian King Frederick II, the Great, had ordered the demolition of his mill obstructing the views of the new royal palace in Potsdam. The
