Table 1
Expected levels of politicization by applicants.
| Pol. dimension: Possibilities of the applicant (H1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Weaken political opponents | Not weaken political opponents | ||
| Legal dimension: Affection of the applicant (H2) | Individual rights or competencies not affected |
(a) High
|
(b) Medium-high
|
| Individual rights or competencies affected |
(c) Medium-low
|
(d) Low
| |
Source: Own compilation based on the presentation and hypotheses of Ewert, Hein (2016: 58). The types of procedures are shown in square brackets.
Table 2
Number of cases by type of procedure and applicant in Estonia (since 1993), Latvia (since 1997), and Lithuania (since 2008).
| Type of procedure | Applicant | Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Judicial Review | Quorum Parliament (MP) | 49 | 67.1671 | |
| Parliament | 16.333 | |||
| President | 15 | 1 | 5.5 | |
| Cabinet/Minister | 2 | 5 | ||
| Justice Chancellor/Ombudsperson | 43 | 30.5 | ||
| Attorney General | 3 | |||
| Audit Office | 3 | |||
| Judicial Council | 1 | |||
| Concrete Judicial Review | Court | 243 | 61 | 154 |
| Constitutional Complaint | Anyone | 57 | 220.5 | |
| Election Review | Anyone | 201 | ||
| Competence Complaint | Municipal Council | 35 | 14 | |
| Not Assignable2 | 6 | 20 | ||
| Total | 600 | 385 | 268 |
Source: Own Survey.
1The decimal numbers in the count of cases in Latvia and Lithuania occur because, in a few instances, multiple types of applicants initiated a single case (see Supplementary material). In cases with two (or three) different applicants, one of the applicants is therefore counted only as 0.5 (or 0.333) instead of 1. The same applies to the number of separate opinions, which are divided among the applicants.
2A clear assignment is impossible when no data on the applicant or type of procedure are available, or if the cases involve extraordinary instances that cannot be clearly categorized.
Figure 1
Estonia 1993–2022: Aggregated Separate Opinion Quota by Applicant.
Source: Own Survey. The number of cases in the survey period is in parentheses and the rates are rounded to four decimal places.
Figure 2
Latvia 1997–2022: Aggregated Separate Opinion Quota by Applicant.
Source: Own Survey. The number of cases in the survey period is in parentheses and the rates are rounded to four decimal places.
Figure 3
Lithuania 2008–2022: Aggregated Separate Opinion Quota by Applicant.
Source: Own Survey. The number of cases in the survey period is in parentheses and the rates are rounded to four decimal places.
Table 3
Comparison of separate opinion quotas between applicant groups.
| Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group (a) | [0] | 0.0621 [51] (0.1338) | 0.0240 [88.5] (0.0501) |
| Individual rights or competencies not affected/weaken political opponents | |||
| Group (b) | 0.0801 [58] (0.1619) | 0.0547 [38.5] (0.1278) | 0.0101 [5] (0.0000) |
| Individual rights or competencies not affected/not weaken political opponents | |||
| Group (c) | 0.0286 [35] (0.1886) | 0.0204 [14] (0.0000) | [0] |
| Individual rights or competencies affected/weaken political opponents | |||
| Group (d) | 0.0223 [501] (0.1123) | 0.0469 [281.5] (0.1186) | 0.0220 [154] (0.1117) |
| Individual rights or competencies affected/not weaken political opponents |
Source: Own survey. The table presents the average separate opinion rates of the groups, the number of cases per group in square brackets, and the standard deviation in parentheses.
Table 4
Comparison of separate opinion rates between categories.
| Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cat. 1: Weaken political opponents | |||
| Possible | 0.0286 [35] | 0.0531 [65] | 0.0240 [88.5] |
| Impossible | 0.0283 [559] | 0.0478 [320] | 0.0216 [159.5] |
| Difference | +0.0003 | +0.0053 | +0.0024 |
| Kat. 2: Legal affection | |||
| Not existing | 0.0801 [58] | 0.0589 [89.5] | 0.0232 [94] |
| Existing | 0.0227 [536] | 0.0456 [295.5] | 0.022 [154] |
| Difference | +0.0574 | +0.0133 | +0.0012 |
Source: Own survey. Presented are the average special vote rates of the categories and the number of cases per category in square brackets.