Opposition deputies indicated that the only way to continue with the preselection of candidates for the judicial elections is for the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP) to promulgate an Institutional Resolution.
The president of the Citizen Community (CC) bench, Enrique Urquidi, explained that the president of the Legislature, David Choquehuanca, has the responsibility of calling a plenary session to instruct the continuity of the process until its completion through the institutional resolution. “He must order that the preselection process continue and extend the deadline for 30 or 40 days to comply with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE),” he specified.
The 80-day period established by Law 1549 for the ALP to preselect candidates for the judicial elections ended yesterday, amid uncertainty about this process stopped by a ruling by a constitutional chamber.
Urquidi clarified that the reports of the mixed constitution and plural justice commissions are awaited to be sent to the presidency of the ALP; then the plenary session can be called.
In Urquidi’s opinion, if the lists of pre-candidates are delivered to the TSE until June, they will be able to organize the judicial elections in October or November.
“Our position is to exhaust all means so that the process does not founder and rather ends in the best way,” he assured.
The ALP’s mixed Constitution and Plural Justice commissions reported that they had not yet been notified of the annulment of the judicial elections by the First Constitutional Chamber of Pando, which issued this determination on April 30.
“Until now we are still waiting for notification from the Pando Court. A hearing has been held for almost a week, but we have not been notified. We hope they are responsible and no longer harm us,” Senator Roberto Padilla told Unitel.
Analyst Carlos Alberto Goitia mentioned three components for the failure of the judicial elections: the presence of self-prorogators in the high courts, the inability of the Legislature to carry out the preselection and the constitutional design that does not work.
He proposed that the deans assume positions in the magistracies of the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP).
Deadlines in the electoral process
Transitory Law 1549 for the 2024 Judicial Elections indicates that the “nomination and preselection of applicants will last up to 80 calendar days,” while the “organization and conduct of the popular vote, will last up to 150 calendar days.”
The First Constitutional Chamber of Pando granted protection and ordered a new preselection process because “the right to equality of both women and indigenous peoples was violated.”
