April 16, 2023, 10:29 PM
April 16, 2023, 10:29 PM
If the MAS does not achieve consensus with all the parties for the process of pre-selection of candidates for judicial magistrates, there will be no choice, warned the constitutional analyst, Israel Quino, who recalled that there is an international threat. Likewise, the opponents also advanced that if there is no change in the attitude of the MAS there will be no support for the new regulation.
“If they approve the regulation by majority, the process will be a failureIf there were not this complementarity between the parties, there would be no lists approved by two thirds, this means that if there are no lists of applicants approved by two thirds, then there will be no judicial elections”, warned the constitutional lawyer at a press conference.
This Monday, the MAS and the opposition parties will resume the session suspended on Saturday and will analyze the terms of the new regulation for the pre-selection of candidates for high judicial positions, as ordered by the First Constitutional Chamber of Beni that annulled the current regulation.
For opponents it is clear that the MAS tries to approve a new regulation in the same terms and waiting for other lawsuits and that they will not lend themselves to an action of that nature. The deputy, Carlos Alarcón, admitted that they must be present by obligation, but they will not endorse the documents that are going to be discussed.
“We are not going to lend if it is not considered a 180 degree turn to the process. If the MAS does not want to accept going to zero pages and approve a true law of guarantees that tries to recover this process that was stillborn. They have two disastrous precedents of pre-selection by high authorities and they do not react. It is unheard of,” said the deputy in a clear allusion to the judicial election processes of 2011 and 2017.
For the constitutional expert, if the MAS fails to arrange the entire process, resort to decrees to appoint judges and recalled that there are precedents with respect to this presidential attribution, although they occurred before the validity of the new Political Constitution of the State and before the Law of the Judicial Branch was promulgated.
“What would be the only path that remains for the power structure due to the balances of power that must exist? Well, the appointment by decree, former president Evo Morales already did it in 2010 and Carlos Mesa did it in 2004. So, it would not be illegal, it would not be unconstitutional; however, that would already be the final thrust of the justice system”, lamented the lawyer.
For Deputy Alarcón the alternative must be forged by citizens supporting judicial reform promoted by independent jurists and pressure the Assembly to discuss a referendum that allows the change in the appointment of senior magistrates and also recalled that the collection of signatures will end on April 24.
who said that it is impossible to think of an extension of mandate of the current judicial authorities. He recalled that in order to extend the mandate of the former President, Jeanine Áñez, and of all the authorities elected in that constitutional period, there was a consultation with the TCP that authorized the extension of the mandate.
“The Constitutional Court cannot rule for itself. For this reason, the form of an extension or extension of the mandate of the current authorities beyond six years in the Judicial Branch is practically impossible ”, he specified.
