VII. Part V - The amendments to the provincial electoral law

B. Introduction of a temporal limitation to the mandate of the President of the Province, the assessors and the councillors (Article 45)

The limitation of the mandate of the representative authorities and executive ones are not a typical characteristic of the parliamentary systems, but this does not mean that this is contrary to the constitutional system. Recently some laws have introduced this limitation at regional level, in Italy (Veneto, Law n. 5/2012, Article 6.2) as well as in Spain (Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha). The rationale is, according to the Explanatory Memorandum, “to avoid that politics become a profession”. This is a legitimate goal – albeit debatable in political terms, as it is up to the voters to decide by whom they wish to be represented. It may also be recalled that the Venice Commission stated that “prohibiting re-election of parliamentarians involves the risk of a legislative branch of power dominated by inexperienced politicians. This may lead to increase the imbalance in favour of the executive”.^[1]

[1] Report on Democracy, Limitation of Mandates and Incompatibility of Political Functions, CDL-AD(2012)027rev, par. 71.