The Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Hannibal TorresHe pointed out that no one can “usurp” the right of the population to express themselves through a referendum. Its pronouncement occurs after the plenary session of Congress approved the replacement text of the Constitution Commission, which provides restrictions on the figure of the referendum, so that it can only approve constitutional modifications after these have been evaluated by the Legislative Power.
“No constituted body is above the constituent power. No one can usurp the original and sovereign power of the people to express their will in a democracy by means of a referendum. Only the tyranny of a constituted body can limit or suppress sovereign power ”, he asserted.
Parliament approved last Thursday, December 16, the text of the Constitution Commission that states that any constitutional reform must first be approved by Congress before being submitted to a referendum. The decision was taken by 76 votes in favor, 43 against and 3 abstentions.
The norm makes modifications to the Law of the rights of participation and citizen control. Thus, article 40 includes a text stating that only constitutional reforms that respect article 206 of the Constitution may be submitted to a referendum. The latter indicates that “any constitutional reform must be approved by Congress with an absolute majority of the legal number of its members.”
Article 44 would also be modified to specify that a referendum on a constitutional reform will be called by the electoral authority “by order of Congress.”
In relation to this case, the Judicial Power admitted the petition for protection filed by Congressman Guillermo Bermejo. The amparo claim is against twelve congressmen from different benches who promoted the bill 644/2021-CR considering that it affects the right of “citizen participation by blurring the figure of the referendum” that is recognized in article 2 of the Constitution.
