May 17, 2024, 7:02 PM
May 17, 2024, 7:02 PM
Senators loyal to Evo Morales want Justice to force Vice President David Choquehuanca to convene a session of the Legislative Assembly that validates two laws that order the cessation of functions of the senior magistrates of the Judicial Branch.
In parallel and after the lack of agreements with the political forces with parliamentary representation, Choquehuanca urged the Constitutional Court to issue “immediately” a ruling that reinstates the candidate selection process for judicial elections.
A ruling from the Constitutional Chamber of the Departmental Court of Justice of Pando It overturned the law approved on February 6 that endorsed the judicial election. The process stalled in the applicant interview phase.
Former president Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé also issued an “exhortation,” but he directed it to David Choquehuanca to resolve the judicial crisis with democratic and Legislative policies so that the country’s electoral rights are respected.
“Do not delay or subordinate the popular will to a self-extended Plurinational Constitutional Court, whose decisions lack legitimacy,” stated the former president in a message addressed precisely to Choquehuanca, ex-officio president of the Legislative Assembly.
For their part, Senator Lucy Escobar and her colleague William Torrez sued Choquehuanca with a constitutional appeal called Compliance Action that, if validated, orders the authorities, precisely, to comply with their constitutional obligations.
Specifically, the resource It is for not calling a plenary session of the Legislature where projects 073, relating to the suspension of procedural deadlines and 075, which refers to the cessation of functions of the extended judges of the Judicial Branch, must be debated, including those of the Constitutional Court who are now called to resolve appeals to leave their positions.
Torrez indicated that It has been almost five months that Choquehuanca has not called a session to address these issues. “There’s a blatant non-compliance of duties,” he remarked.
The legislator expressed his concern that said compliance action was referred to the First Constitutional Chamber of the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz, which is chaired by member Israel Campero, the same one that issued a ruling to force the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to supervise the congress of the ‘arcista’ faction of the MAS.
Torrez expects Campero to excuse himself from the review because potential conflicts of interest.
“The members are expected to vindicate that ‘battered’ image they have, fruit of the violation of the Constitution in permanent rulings and resolutions throughout this time,” remarked the senator.
Additionally, a Compliance Action occurs when an elected authority through democratic vote does not fulfill its functions, that is, it does not workwhich are established as a mandate in the Constitution State Policy.
Assembly also does not endorse the election of electoral members
But it was not the only lawsuit in this case. Citizen Elizardo Callapa Mayta presented an appeal before the Second Constitutional Chamber of Beni against the 130 legislators for not electing the members of the Departmental Electoral Tribunal (TED) of Beni.
“The Compliance Action is against the 130 deputies because we have not managed, so far, to comply with the Law 1299 that involves the appointment of departmental members of the Electoral Body. They are demanding its compliance in order to define these vacancies that exist in the Electoral Court of the Department of Beni,” explained deputy Marcelo Pedrazas of the Citizen Community (CC).
The TED of Beni has not had electoral members since 2021 after the Plurinational Constitutional Court suspended Zulema Bethzabé Chávez Gutiérrez, Tania María Vargas, Luis Miguel Apinaye Sosa and Ottomar Coímbra Menacho, for a constitutional protection raised by two former candidates who claimed the violation of their fundamental rights.
In January 2022, the Beni Departmental Legislative Assembly held the election of the shortlists for the appointment of the four members and sent the lists to the Chamber of Deputies, which to date has not held the election. However, this issue is on the agenda of Deputies this week, as the last point after 26 topics to be discussed.
The only one who was a member was Carlos Ortiz Quezada, who on April 3 of this year presented his irrevocable resignation to the Legislative Assembly to register as a candidate for the Judicial Branch. Ortiz was appointed as a TED Beni member by President Luis Arce as a delegate of the Executive Body.
