Judicial officers at risk and the TSE defends the principle of estoppel

The judicial elections that are in charge of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) are at risk of being suspended due to a Constitutional Amparo appeal presented by a candidate who was disqualified by the Legislative Assembly.

However, the electoral body is based on the principle of estoppel to defend the process before a constitutional chamber of the Beni Court of Justice that will define this Tuesday the fate of this process election.

“There is an enormous risk that the judicial elections will be paralyzed, as a result of a Constitutional Amparo that has been filed against us in recent hours,” member Tahuichi Tahuichi told EL DEBER.

However, the authority recalled that every electoral process, according to Law 026 of the Electoral Regime, is protected by the principle of estoppel, which means that The electoral acts that have already been completed cannot be undone.

“According to our electoral regulations, the principle of estoppel governs. That is, the activities within an electoral process cannot be taken backwards,” Tahuichi stressed.

And who is asking for the paralysis of the entire judicial electoral process that is already underway? It is the lawyer Hugo Vargas Palenque, an applicant from Beni, who was seeking to run to be a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) representing that department, but was disqualified by the Joint Constitutional Commission of the Legislative Assembly, at the stage of the preselection process.

“This citizen seeks to be included in the list of candidates for the Judicial Branch,” said Tahuichi, taking into account that The TSE is counting down to election day which is December 1st.

“It draws our attention strongly that this protection is against us (the TSE), because The list of candidates has been worked on, carried out and prepared by the Legislative Bodythat is, the citizen should have filed his protection against the body that prepared the list of candidates. We (the Electoral Body) are simple recipients,” argued Tahuichi.

The hearing that will determine whether or not the judicial elections will continue will be this Tuesday the 15th, starting at 10:00.

Last week, Senator Andrea Barrientos (CC) denounced that “self-prorogated” judges of the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP) are once again trying to “sabotage” the judicial elections, through protections in the departments of Pando and Beni. The legislator pointed out the current magistrates Yván Espada and Gonzalo Hurtado, who supposedly control the constitutional chambers of Pando and Beni, respectively.

“Three appeals have already been filed against the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, two of them in a room in Pando controlled by the self-prorogated Espada and one of them is in Beni, a room controlled by the former self-prorogated magistrate Hurtado. “This situation is putting the judicial election at risk,” said Barrientos.

In the hypothetical case that the elections are paralyzed due to this judicial remedy, the State would lose more than 55 million bolivianos, which are part of the resources that were allocated to carry out this electoral process.

“We have a total budget of 183 million bolivianos for this judicial election, of which, so far we are executing resources for approximately 55 million bolivianos. In the hypothetical case that these elections are paralyzed “economic damage would be generated to the State”explained the electoral authority.

47 days before election day, which is December 1, the TSE is carrying out activity number 19 of the electoral calendar with the “Reception of complaints from citizens disqualified and not authorized in the Electoral Registry in the Departmental Electoral Courts and Departmental Directorates of the Civic Registry Service.” Until October 23, the Serecí will process the claims of the disabled.

From October 17 to November 27, the TSE will disseminate the merits of male and female candidates to the TCP and the Judicial Branch.