In the fifth session of the international short course of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC), AACC members shared experiences on facing challenges in the judiciary in their respective countries on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), Bali. Jeffrey A. Apperson, vice president for International Relations of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), shared his experience.

In this session, Apperson said that the world is currently moving from a conventional justice system to a technology-based one. Several countries that have carried out the transition are, for example, the US, Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, and Nigeria. The transition, must be carried out wisely, he asserted.

“Technology used wisely can facilitate improved systems performance because the effective utilization of electronic data for evaluating performance, improving public access and trust, transparency, judicial effectiveness, budget management and planning in general can be realized. Perhaps most importantly, the effective application of technology tools can save TIME for everyone involved if effectively designed and deployed. In other words, to improve productivity,” he added.

In order to achieve this goal, Apperson emphasized the necessity of optimizing technology for the justice system. “There is a new class of managers and administrators being developed that can utilize technology to maximize national and local productivity… that it can productively reorganize court business processes to facilitate the improvement of court efficiency so that it can comply with social and constitutional values,” he asserted.

Right to Vote and be Elected in Mongolia’s Electoral System

Meanwhile, Dulamsuren Dashdondog from the Constitutional Court of Mongolia said that Mongolia adopted a new democratic Constitution in 1992, which legislated human rights and freedoms, the form of state organization, the separation of state power, and the authority of the highest executive organ exercising that power.

“Moreover, Constitution defined democracy as or basic method of public governance and the right of citizens to elect, to be elected, which is a fundamental value of democracy and the fundamentals of Mongolian election law,” she said.

She further said the Constitution of Mongolia states that “All governance power in Mongolia shall be vested in the People. The Mongolian People shall participate directly in the State affairs, as well as shall exercise such power through the representative organs of the State power elected by them.” Therefore, the election is the main way to exercise the right to State and local self-governance for the people of Mongolia.

“Since ancient times in Mongolia elections or vote has been used to form organizations,” she added.

From the end of the 18th to the 19th century, Mongolia’s electoral system took its current form and was widely used in the world's countries, Dashdondog explained. Elections shall be universal and citizens entitled to vote shall have the right to participate without discrimination based on ethnicity, language, race, gender, social origin, status, wealth, occupation, position, religion, opinion, or education.

“Each country has created its own stateinstitutions by the law its own methods and forms of conducting elections and its Legalization is the basic basis for guaranteeing the citizen’s right to elect and to be elected, the principles of elections, and the electoral system. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the right to elect and to be elected and the parliamentary election system, its implementation, the current situation, and some of the decisions of the Constitutional Tsets (Court) of Mongolia that resolved disputes related to the election system,” she added.

AACC Short Course Closing Ceremony

At the closing ceremony of the AACC Short Course, Chief Registrar Muhidin of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) said that the short course is a side event of the 5th Congress of the WCCJ that aimed to build a synergy of knowledge and experience to be implemented by participating member countries.

“I would like to thank all participants for your dedication in joining the event, for providing inputs and recommendation as well as confirmation and questions, and for the effort in maintaining the conduciveness of the event. On behalf of the officials of the MKRI and the organizing committee, I would like to offer the sincerest apology for our shortcomings and mistakes. I hope the event can promote positive cooperation,” he said.

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) organizes an international short course annually as the Permanent Secretariat for Planning and Coordination of the AACC. The short course, which was initiated in 2015, includes various topics on the work of the constitutional courts and equivalent institutions, and the promotion of constitutional rights.

The speakers of the short course were justices, former justices of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, academics, researchers, and law practitioners. The participants were substitute registrars, rapporteur judges, researchers, and legal staff of the AACC members, as well as academics from Indonesian leading universities. The various backgrounds of the speakers and participants of the short course have encouraged fruitful discussions from different perspectives and experiences based on their respective skills.