| Basic information | Substance of the ruling | Accessibility of the case and further relevant links | |||||||
| Date | Name of the case (or case number) | The body delivering the decision | Keywords, topic | Executive part | Brief summary | Full text | Page at the website of the issuing court | Page in other databases | Unofficial materials, press communications |
| June 15. 2020. | No. 04/CC/MC | Constitutional Court of Niger | Right to vote | The Constitutional Court of Niger held that Covid-19 constituted a force majeure justifying the suspension of enlisting Nigerien voters with foreign residence. As a consequence, Nigerien electoral authorities are allowed to establish a national biometric electoral file without voters with foreign residence, but the enlistment of these voters should be resumed once the circumstances would be more favourable to do so. | The Constitutional Court of Niger heard a case concerning the enlistment of voters with foreign residence during the public health emergency. The National Electoral Code required from the electoral authorities to enlist these voters and to include them in the national biometric electoral file. The prime minister requested from the Constitutional Court to assess, whether Covid-19 pandemic justifies to suspend the enlistment of voters with foreign residence and to establish a national biometric electoral file without these voters. The Constitutional Court held that the global pandemic constitutes a force majeure as it amounts to an unforeseeable, irresistable and external event justifying the closure of state borders, suspension of foreign diplomatic missions, as well as the enlistment of voters with foreign residence. As a consequence, Nigerien authorities are allowed to establish national biometric electoral file without foreign based voters during the public health emergency. However, the census of voters with foreign residence should be resumed as soon as possible, and these voters should be added again to the national biometric electoral file once the circumstances would be more favourable. | http://www.cour-constitutionnelle-niger.org/documents/arrets/matiere_constitutionnelle/2020/arret_n_004_20_cc_mc.pdf | http://www.cour-constitutionnelle-niger.org/arrets_constitutionnelle_2020.php |
https://juricaf.org/arret/NIGER-COURCONSTITUTIONNELLE-20200615-04CCMC; https://www.covid19litigation.org/case-index/niger-constitutional-court-no-04ccmc-2020-06-15 |
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| March 30. 2020. | Opinion N°08/CC | Constitutional Court of Niger | Covid and Parliament; separation of powers | The Constitutional Court of Niger held, that Parliament has broad margin of appreciation during the public health emergency to adapt the rules on its functioning to the public health circumstances, including limiting the number of parliamentarians present in the sitting room, introducing proxi voting, rotating the parliamentarians attending sessions in person, and ordering fully closed sessions via video conference. | The speaker of the Parliament of Niger requested from the Constitutional Court an opinion whether Parliament could limit the parliamentarians attending session in person, rotating the deputies attending in person, providing the option of proxi voting and ordering video sittings closed for the public during the public health emergency. The Constitutional Court considered that although the fact, that publicity is a key principle of the parliamentary work, during the public health emergency, the Parliament has broad margin of movement to adapt its rules of procedures to the public health concerns, and these alternatives also include the measures mentioned by the speaker of the house. | http://www.cour-constitutionnelle-niger.org/documents/avis/2020/avis_n_008_cc_2020.pdf | https://www.covid19litigation.org/case-index/niger-constitutional-court-opinion-ndeg08cc-2020-03-30 | ||
