The People’s Civic Movement’s Patreyk Narjid is allowed to run in the Prime Ministerial election.

Narjid’s candidacy in the election has been based on the interpretation that the Constitution allowed both sitting and former Members of Parliament to run for Prime Ministerial office. This was brought into question after Willow Dziedzic MP filed a case with the Court asking for clarity.

In the Court’s initial ruling (CC-26-1), “Member of Parliament” was defined in the Constitution as only sitting MPs. This ruling had the effect that Narjid was disqualified from the Prime Ministerial election as announced by Grand Premier, Asa Ward. This was later backtracked, with a second statement clarifying that the ruling was only the Court’s opinion and not a legal decision.

The ruling was met with criticism by Narjid and his running mate Stephen Pynch. The opposing candidate Rowan Mintz and their own running mate Max Wyrodowicz also reacted negatively to the ruling. Mintz distanced themselves from Dziedzic’s challenge on the definition, stating that they “had no business with either side in the recent court ruling”.

After Narjid appealed, the Court issued a second and final ruling (CC-26-2) that overturned the original and broadened the definition of “Member of Parliament” to include former MPs, and Narjid was allowed to run again.

Implications of the ruling

The second ruling had major implications for Curnon, most notably being that former Members of Parliament could now be entitled to propose and vote on Bills in Parliament. It also means that former MPs, even those who are no longer citizens, could run for Prime Ministerial office in the next election.

These implications have not been formally or publicly addressed by the Court.

When confronted with the implications, Grand Premier, Asa Ward stated that “we’re going to break the Constitution to fix it”.