The President of the Supreme Court, Adelino Muchanga, began this Tuesday (23) to prepare the magistrates and the legality commissions to deal correctly with electoral disputes, especially the powers of the district courts to locally annul elections.

According to the Supreme Court, the district court can annul the elections, but the Constitutional Council believes that the Constitution of the Republic gives it exclusivity.

The aim of the work of the head of the Supreme Court, which began in Sofala province, in the center of the country, is to clarify the law and provide a single, harmonized interpretation of the electoral package, as the courts prepare to deal with the next electoral cycle.

It should be noted that last week, the Constitutional Council and the Supreme Court took their electoral battle to Parliament, regarding the role of the district courts, an issue that generated controversy in last year's municipal elections.

The story, according to VOAIt is due to be debated during the current session of the Portuguese Parliament (AR).

Although the Constitutional Council believes that the Constitution of the Republic gives it the right to decide on elections - leaving the district courts as a mailbox - the spokesman for the Supreme Court, Pedro Nhatitima, argues that the courts of first instance should have the same powers that the law gives the Constitutional Council, with the exception of validating the final results.

"The courts are organs of sovereignty and have the responsibility to make decisions and cannot be seen only as couriers for the circulation of cases between the base and the Constitutional Council," Nhatitima points out.

It should be remembered that some magistrates who ordered the annulment or recount of votes in the 2023 municipal elections were severely criticized for allegedly lacking the competence to do so.

However, the Supreme Court points out that the Constitutional Council is usurping the competences of the district courts by calling upon itself exclusively to invalidate the elections, without any legal basis.

The Constitutional Council responds by saying that the Constitution of the Republic gives it the power to validate an election and that includes the power to declare an election null and void. To change this situation, we need to amend the Constitution of the Republic.

For the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), this is not a legal debate, but a macho struggle for power; the two legal institutions are fighting to control the elections.

And CIP researcher Ivan Mausse hopes that, following this debate, the Constitutional Council will "make decisions only on the basis of the law and without political taint".