CHAPTER 29

FINAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

Article 180 — Entry into Force

  1. This Constitution enters into force upon approval by national referendum and official publication.

  2. Upon entry into force, all state authorities shall take immediate steps to bring legislation and institutions into conformity with the Constitution. Fundamental rights and freedoms are directly applicable from the date of entry into force and may not await implementing legislation.

  3. Legal acts contrary to this Constitution shall be revised or repealed within the time limits established by constitutional law. Courts shall apply constitutional norms directly where existing law is absent or inconsistent with the Constitution, until conforming legislation is enacted.

Article 180a — Day-One Obligations

  1. From the day of entry into force, the following constitutional prohibitions apply immediately and unconditionally, without requiring implementing legislation: a) the prohibition of torture under Article 11; b) the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention under Article 13; c) the right to judicial protection under Articles 9 and 14; d) the prohibition of general censorship under Article 145(3); e) the absolute prohibition on use of security forces against the population under Article 110a; f) the eternity clauses under Article 175.

  2. Any state act violating paragraph 1 shall be immediately challengeable before any competent court, which shall apply the Constitution directly.

Article 181 — Transitional Continuity of Institutions

  1. Existing state institutions shall continue to function temporarily to the extent necessary to preserve legal continuity, public order, and administration, unless incompatible with this Constitution on their face.

  2. An institution that is incompatible with this Constitution on its face — including any institution that concentrates powers prohibited by the separation-of-powers structure, that serves a single officeholder’s control, or that operates as a secret body without constitutional basis — ceases to have constitutional authority from the date of entry into force.

  3. Transitional constitutional laws shall define the sequence, deadlines, and procedures for establishing the institutions required by this Constitution.

Article 181a — Institutional Establishment Deadlines

  1. The following institutions shall be established within the periods specified, calculated from the date of entry into force of this Constitution:

    a) Constitutional Court: within six (6) months. Until the Constitutional Court is established, constitutional review shall be exercised on an emergency basis by an ad hoc panel of three senior justices of the existing highest court, whose decisions are provisional and subject to review by the Constitutional Court upon its establishment;

    b) Independent Electoral Authority: within four (4) months. The IEA must be established and operational before the first elections under this Constitution are called;

    c) Independent parliament under this Constitution: first elections shall be held no later than twelve (12) months after entry into force under the supervision of the IEA once established;

    d) New Government formed under parliamentary procedure: within sixty (60) days of the first sitting of the new Parliament;

    e) Judicial Council of the Republic: within nine (9) months;

    f) Ombudsman: within twelve (12) months;

    g) Supreme Audit Institution: within twelve (12) months; until established, the existing audit function continues under its current legal basis but shall report to Parliament rather than to the executive;

    h) Anti-Corruption Body: within fifteen (15) months;

    i) Civil Service Commission: within fifteen (15) months;

    j) Data Protection Authority: within eighteen (18) months;

    k) Independent Media Regulator: within eighteen (18) months;

    l) Information Commissioner: within eighteen (18) months;

    m) Elected local self-government bodies under this Constitution: within twenty-four (24) months.

  2. Transitional appointment rules where institution sequencing creates a dependency: a) Until the Judicial Council is established under paragraph 1(e), the three (3) Constitutional Court seats allocated to the Judicial Council under Article 87(1)(c) shall be filled by a joint vote of both chambers of Parliament, each acting by a two-thirds majority — one hundred (100) of one hundred fifty (150) deputies and fourteen (14) of twenty (20) senators respectively — applying the same eligibility requirements of Article 88. The Judicial Council shall review these transitional appointments within thirty (30) days of its establishment and may confirm or replace them by the procedure of Article 87(1)(c). b) Until the Ombudsman is appointed under paragraph 1(f), the seat on the Independent Electoral Authority allocated to the Ombudsman under Article 165(2)(d) shall be filled within thirty (30) days of the Judicial Council’s establishment by appointment of the Judicial Council, applying the same eligibility requirements of Article 165. The Ombudsman shall confirm or replace this appointment within thirty (30) days of taking office.

  3. If any institution listed in paragraph 1 is not established within the specified period, the Constitutional Court — or, before the Constitutional Court is established, the ad hoc panel under paragraph 1(a) — shall upon application by any person with standing, issue a compliance order against the responsible state authority specifying a non-extendable deadline for establishment not exceeding a further sixty (60) days.

  4. Failure to establish any institution within the period specified in paragraph 1 or ordered under paragraph 2 constitutes a grave constitutional violation. The acting parliamentary body shall be required to place the matter as the sole item on its agenda within fourteen (14) days and shall not conduct other legislative business until the institution is established or an implementing legislative act is adopted.

Article 182 — First Democratic Elections Under This Constitution

  1. The first elections under this Constitution shall be organized and supervised by the Independent Electoral Authority established under Article 181a(1)(b). No elections may be called under this Constitution before the IEA is operational.

  2. The first elections shall be conducted under an interim electoral law that satisfies the following minimum requirements: a) universal, equal, direct, and secret suffrage as required by this Constitution; b) an open-list proportional system consistent with Chapter 5; c) equal access of all registered parties to the ballot; d) independent domestic and international observation; e) public, verifiable result tabulation with results published within twenty-four (24) hours.

  3. If no qualifying political parties exist at the time the first elections are called, an interim electoral law shall permit independent candidates to stand in district races on an interim basis, with the Constitutional Court certifying eligibility rules within fifteen (15) days of a referral.

  4. The first parliamentary cycle under this Constitution has the principal duty of enacting the constitutional laws necessary for the full operation of the constitutional order within the deadlines established in Article 181a.

  5. Failure of the first Parliament to enact a required constitutional law within the deadline established in Article 181a shall be referred by the Constitutional Court to the Lower House as a constitutional default, requiring that body to hold a recorded vote on the matter within thirty (30) days.

Article 183 — Treatment of Existing Officials and Judges

  1. Persons holding public office or judicial office under pre-constitutional law at the date of entry into force may continue in their functions temporarily under the following conditions:

    a) they shall take an oath of loyalty to this Constitution within sixty (60) days of entry into force; failure to take the oath within sixty (60) days constitutes voluntary relinquishment of office;

    b) they shall comply immediately with all incompatibility requirements of this Constitution; persons holding offices incompatible under this Constitution shall have sixty (60) days to choose which office to retain;

    c) judges serving under pre-constitutional law shall remain in office until the Judicial Council is established and may conduct new appointments under this Constitution; from that date, all new judicial appointments and any vacancies shall be filled under the procedures of this Constitution.

  2. A person holding office under pre-constitutional law who is found by a competent court to have committed a grave violation of the constitutional order, participated in unconstitutional repression, or ordered actions prohibited by Article 110a of this Constitution shall be removed from office immediately upon final judgment and disqualified from public office for the period established by constitutional law.

  3. Existing civil servants not covered by paragraph 2 shall be deemed to hold their positions under transitional authority until the Civil Service Commission is established and may review or confirm appointments under the merit procedures of Chapter 24.

Article 184 — Continuity of Rights Protection

  1. Fundamental rights and freedoms recognized by this Constitution are directly applicable from the date of entry into force.

  2. No transitional measure, gap in implementing legislation, or delay in establishing a required institution may suspend, defer, or reduce the immediate constitutional protection of human dignity, judicial protection, equality, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, or other core rights.

  3. Courts shall provide constitutional remedies during the transition, applying the Constitution directly in the absence of conforming legislation.

  4. Where a right cannot be fully given effect during the transition for reasons of institutional incapacity, the court before which the matter arises shall record the deficiency, order the best available remedy, and refer the institutional gap to the Constitutional Court, which shall issue a compliance direction to the responsible authority within thirty (30) days.

Article 185 — Continuity of International Obligations

  1. International treaties ratified and in force under pre-constitutional law remain in force after entry into force of this Constitution, unless they are incompatible with the eternity clauses of Article 175 or expressly inconsistent with the constitutional order.

  2. The Government shall, within twelve (12) months of entry into force, submit to Parliament a report identifying all existing international treaties and their compatibility with this Constitution, with recommendations for ratification, renegotiation, or termination where incompatibility exists.

  3. Parliament shall act on the report within ninety (90) days of its submission.