August 7, 2024, 2:39 PM
August 7, 2024, 2:39 PM
The Minister of Justice, Ivan Lima, On Wednesday, he recalled that President Luis Arce can directly call for a referendum through a decree, but he also reported that they are still waiting for a response from the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP) “which will define a single path.”
On Tuesday, in his message for the 199th anniversary of Bolivia, President Arce He proposed holding a referendum on the same date as the judicial elections to determine the redistribution of parliamentary seats, continuous or discontinuous presidential re-election and whether or not hydrocarbon subsidies will be maintained.
Article 16 of Law 026 of the Electoral Regime It establishes that, among other possibilities, the call for a referendum can be made through a state initiative that can be adopted “by the president of the Plurinational State, through a Supreme Decree,” or “by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, through a State Law, approved by two thirds of the assembly members present.”
So, “President Arce is empowered to do so. The president will be able (or can) call the referendum with the current rules “We are seeking to qualify and improve the process by Supreme Decree. And if the (Legislative) Assembly wants to participate, it is invited, but they are not going to kidnap us again, (…) we are not going to allow it. What we are going to do and have designed is a legal path for Bolivians who want to participate in this consultation and listen to the people, to do so. If they do not want to be part of the table, we are not going to need them, that is why we have taken the issue to the Constitutional Court and we are waiting for the response that will define a single path,” said Lima.
The government authority stressed that there is a constitutional order that “already in July admitted the possibility of revising the referendum procedure in the country and is currently in the hands of the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP).”
Even, “the vice president (David Choquehuanca) Choquehuanca has already responded, this order has admitted the constitutional discussion and, therefore, At this moment we are in a stage of constitutional litigation that will clarify the intervention of all political actors. That is why we have not come out to say (…) what the legal procedure is, because we are adjusting that procedure and there is a procedure underway before the TCP to see the best way forward,” he said.
However, the government authority also admitted that the procedure for approving the referendum questions and their legal effect “require technical and legal dialogue between the different organs of the State.”
“The Executive Branch, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Plurinational Constitutional Court must speak,” he said.
He assured that there is a legal team, within the Executive,working “to find the best solution through dialogue with all political actors.”
So, “the three questions are not closed at this time” that they will be an imposition of the Executive Branch. We are proposing to the country start a great national dialogue to have the best path and the best question. I repeat, the Arce government will listen to its people, We are going to protect this referendum to be fulfilledso that it is not a repetition of 21F, which in the end was not fulfilled by Evo Morales. The referendum that this government is going to organize, will be legally protectedwill give certainty to the country and will listen to the Bolivian people,” he said.
