QCOSTARICA – After four years on the job (well for most), this will be the last week in which the current group lf legislators will hold office, as the constitutional period for which they were elected is over.
On May 1, a new group of legislators will assume the duties of legislating for the next four years (2022-2016), elected in the national elections on February 6.
Legislators cannot stand for consecutive reelection. Thus every four years, 57 people, the current number of representative seats of the Legislative Assembly, the newly elected group assume their seats.
Eugenia Aguirre, researcher at the l Observatorio de la Política Nacional (OPNA) – National Policy Observatory (OPNA), explains that it is a very intense week at the legislative level.
Aguirre details that the attention will be focused on getting pending bills approved.
On May 1, one of the very first acts of the new legislative group is to elect a new legislative directorate, including the president of the Legislative Assembly for the first year.
This year, the Legislative Assembly will be the site for the Transfer of Powers, an act that takes place every four years at noon on May 8, when the outgoing President hands over the key to the country (figuratively) to the new.
As with legislators, Presidents cannot stand for consecutive re-election.