IMPROVING THE PROCEDURAL GUARANTEES OF PARTY GROUPS AND THE POLITICAL MINORITY IN LOCAL COUNCILS

Abstract

This paper addresses the improvement of the legal status of party groups and of the political minority within the Councils of People's Deputies. Party groups are examined as procedural subjects that give expression to political pluralism inside the Council and that participate in shaping the agenda, discussing draft decisions, conducting committee work and activating oversight mechanisms. The analysis substantiates the need to guarantee the rights of the political minority to place items on the agenda, to propose alternative draft decisions, to participate proportionally in committees and to express dissenting opinions. Drawing on constitutional-legal, formal-legal, institutional, comparative-legal and logical analysis, the study finds that current norms recognize the party group as an association of deputies holding certain initiative and oversight rights, but that the procedure and consequences of exercising several of these rights require clarification. The paper concludes with proposals for specifying the procedure, time limits and procedural effects attaching to the exercise of party group rights, and notes the need for subsequent empirical assessment.