Milchakova, O.V. Judicial constitutional control over the activities of political parties

Abstract: The states, which were freed from totalitarian regimes put upon them by a political party or a political leader, aim to find balance between the announced democratic values and accpetable measures of protection of their constitutional order. The constitutional courts, which serve the function of control over compliance with the Constitution by the political parties in their activities, should also facilitate achievement of this balance e. The post-Socialist states of the Eastern Europe are usually regarded as post-totalitarian states, and a number of such states were analyzed in this article. The author used mostly formal legal and comparative legal methods in the analysis of legislation and judicial practice. The court should directly control both the constituent documents and the activities of its members and followers. The indirect influence upon the activities of political party is cast by the constitutional court, when the election disputes are resolved, and constitutional norm control of acts regulating status of parties and other associations of persons, including the procedure for the financing of their activities. These theses are supported by the analysis of the modern legislation and practice of the constitutional courts situated in the former Yugoslavia territory, and results of the analysis are reflected in the article. The author makes a conclusion that in Russia the competence of the Constitutional Court in regard to the constitutional control over the activities of the political parties is much weaker than that of the constitutional courts of the former Yugoslavia states.

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