The Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) wants to prohibit re-election, presenting to the Legislative Assembly a bill signed by 17 legislators, the to reform the country’s Constitution.
The signatures are from legislators of the of the PAC, the Partido Liberación Nacional(PLN), Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), PASE, Movimiento Libertario and the Renovación Costarricense,
On April 4, 2003, the magistrates of the Constitutional Court or Sala IV as it is commonly known, declared unconstitutional an amendement to Articel 132 of the Constitución Política (Constitution) passed in 1969 prohibiting presidential re-elections.
That ruling put back in effect the original article approved in 1949, which allowed presidential re-elections for a second term (maximum eight years in total), skipping one term in between. For clarity, the current president, Laura Chinchilla cannot be re-elected in 2014, but can for another term in 2018 and after.
The Sala IV magistrates felt the 1969 reform violated the “fundamental rights of the electe and to elect”.
According to Juan Carlos Mendoza, who is spearheading the bill, the question of re-election is a matter of discussion ofparliament and not of the Constitutional Court.
Mendoza feels that the country is best served politically if there is no re-election.
So far none of the presidential hopefuls have commented on Mendoza’s bill.
