Parliamentary opposition and democratic transformation issues: Centraland Eastern Europe in focus

Abstract

The article presents a framework for comparing the policy-making rights of the parliamentary opposition in the parliamentary democracies of Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine). The right of the parliamentary opposition to oppose the government formed by the ruling majority is a fundamental feature of liberal democracy. The application of constitutional values (democracy and rule of law) in Central and Eastern European states demonstrates the actual level of fragmentation, polarization and cartelization of the opposition. The Rule of Law Index 2021 explicitly shows that, among the Central and Eastern European countries surveyed, Lithuania ranks 18th, the Czech Republic 22nd, Poland 36th, Hungary 69th and Ukraine 74th. The Rule of Law Index refers to limitations of government powers, absence of corruption, open government and other issues related to the mission of the parliamentary opposition. It is concluded that, the distance (not only ideological) between the ruling majority and the parliamentary opposition is based on the ability to form government, participation in policy making, scrutiny of strategy and (populist) government policy.