BERLIN, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The application by Germany's far-right populist party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), for a preliminary injunction to prevent legislative bills from being signed into law was denied by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on Tuesday.
Germany's highest constitutional court found that the signing of three laws had not been to the disadvantage of AfD. In line with the concept of separation of powers, the court also emphasized that it needed to respect the role and authority of German president with regards to signing new laws.
The AfD had argued that votes on legislative bills back in June were not duly executed because not enough members of the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) had been present at the time of voting.
The Bundestag has 709 members and requires more than half of its members present when bills are voted on. The AfD had challenged the legal validity of the bills because less than 100, instead of the 355 required parliamentarians had been present.
Although the issue had been raised by the AfD during the vote, Bundestag Vice-President Claudia Roth of the Green party had affirmed the parliament's quorum and the three laws were passed.
As a last resort, the populist AfD also wrote a letter to President Frank Walter Steinmeier, asking him not to sign the laws.
According to German law, any new law requires the president's signature before coming into force.
