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Presidents in Government Formation and Censure

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Presidential Activism and Veto Power in Central and Eastern Europe

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Presidential Politics ((PASTPRPO))

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Abstract

This chapter analyses presidential involvement in the appointment and censure of governments and cabinet ministers in Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Furthermore, it discusses the reliability of the share of non-partisan ministers as an indicator of presidential activism in government formation. As no adequate quantitative data was available on presidential activism in this area, its analysis is deliberately left for the qualitative part of the book and follows a more explorative approach. The chapter shows that presidential activism in government formation and censure is relatively rare. Furthermore, the analysis casts doubt on reliability and validity of the share of non-partisan ministers as a measure of presidential activism. The case of Hungary demonstrates that large shares of non-partisans were included in all government despite a lack of presidential involvement, whereas the Polish case shows that presidents were most active and successful in installing co-partisans in cabinet posts. Unfortunately, no alternative measure immediately suggests itself and further case study research appears to be the best option forward.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    He accepted the changes of the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence but objected to the dismissal of the ministers of Economy and Finance.

  2. 2.

    The Act on the Office of the President that specified potential reasons for refusal – albeit vaguely – was only passed in 2001 (Tavits 2008, 61).

  3. 3.

    The ‘Small Constitution’ and its vague stipulation that the president needed to be ‘consulted’ on the candidates for these ministries would only come into force 7 months later. However, Pawlak – as well as the parties making up the Suchocka cabinet 1 month later – already then accepted the president’s control over these offices. According to several respondents from the government side, this even went so far that Wałęsa was able to push through his choice of deputy ministers (MPs with rank of undersecretary of state) in the ‘force ministries’. Later confronted with a stronger parliament, he required parties to submit three candidates from which he then chose deputy ministers for these ministries.

  4. 4.

    Due to the time period chosen for this thesis, all following mentions of the constitution refer to the version in place before March 2011.

  5. 5.

    Note that this differs from the 10% given by Neto and Strøm (2006), Tavits (2008) and Schleiter and Morgan-Jones (2009b). While they exclude ministers without portfolio, this does not account for the difference between the given numbers and highlights problems with determining ministers’ party affiliation.

  6. 6.

    Sándor Pinter (Minister of the Interior 1998–2002, 2010-present); Györgyi Matolcsi (Minister of the Economy 1999–2002 [predecessor also non-partisan] and 2010–2013); János Martonyi (Foreign Minister 1998–2002 and 2010–2014); István Stumpf (Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s office 1998–2002; advisor to the PM 05–07/2010; judge at the Constitutional Court 07/2010–present).

  7. 7.

    A third instance would be the appointment of Mikuláš Dzurinda after the 1998 parliamentary elections (the HZDS won one more seat that Dzurinda’s SDK). However, the future coalition parties elected SDĽ-chairman Jozef Migaš as NRSR speaker who then served as acting president. Therefore, the appointment of Dzurinda (whose SKD was in a coalition with the SDĽ) cannot be classified as activism; it was the only politically viable option.

  8. 8.

    As Kňažko had openly quarrelled with Mečiar over his authoritarian leadership style since autumn 1992 (EECR 1993, 12), the reason behind Mečiar’s request was to rid himself of an intra-party rival.

  9. 9.

    In November 1994, Kováč once again refused to dismiss cabinet ministers yet this time the situation was different. After the parliamentary elections the Moravčík government had tendered its collective resignation to the president but the HZDS-led majority passed motions of non-confidence against two of the ministers and demanded that Kováč dismissed them. Kováč refused on the grounds that ministers who had already resigned could not be subject of a no-confidence motion. The Constitutional Court followed the Kováč’s argumentation and declared that there was no constitutional basis for dismissal (Orosz and Simunčová 1998, 102).

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  1. School of Psychology, Politics and Sociology, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom

    Philipp Köker

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Köker, P. (2017). Presidents in Government Formation and Censure. In: Presidential Activism and Veto Power in Central and Eastern Europe. Palgrave Studies in Presidential Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51914-2_6

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