PRESIDENT BOLANOS VETOS ASSEMBLY REFORM LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 002724 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM NU SUBJECT: PRESIDENT BOLANOS VETOS ASSEMBLY REFORM LAW REF: MANAGUA 2696 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Responding to civil society demands, Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos vetoed the National Assembly's recently passed ways and means bill ("Ley Organica"). The veto met with mixed response in the Assembly, but ultimately the Sandinista Front (FSLN) and Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) deputies decided to call for a special session of the Assembly to override the veto. The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) is investigating ways to derail or delay the vote. End Summary. ¶2. (U) President Bolanos vetoed the Ley Organica (reftel) on December 18, calling it "anti-democratic" and "somewhat dictatorial." Bolanos justified the veto by claiming that the Assembly was attempting to grant itself the unconstitutional authority to summon private citizens, and also to strip individual deputies of the power to present bills to the Assembly's Executive Board by transferring this right exclusively to caucus chiefs. ¶3. (U) The reaction of the National Assembly deputies to the veto has been mixed. Deputies in the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) caucus agreed with Bolanos that the bill is unconstitutional. Maximino Rodriguez, the likely future head of the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) caucus, responded that the President has a constitutional right to veto bills, and the PLC has not yet decided how to respond. Sandinista Front (FSLN) deputy and Executive Board vice president Rene Nunez stated that the FSLN will call for a special session of the Assembly to override Bolanos' veto. ¶4. (C) On December 19, PLC deputy and first secretary of the Assembly's Executive Board Maria Auxiliadora Aleman, with the support of the FSLN Board members, called on the deputies to meet in special sessions on December 21 and 23. ALN deputy Miguel Lopez informed us that the ALN is attempting to track down ALN-affiliated Assembly president Eduardo Gomez and bring him back from vacation abroad to attempt to block the special sessions. Lopez stated that Aleman did not define an agenda for the sessions, but business will undoubtedly include a vote to override the Ley Organica veto and possibly other prejudicial votes cooked up by the FSLN-PLC pact before more opposition deputies join the Assembly next year. ¶5. (SBU) The President and Assembly caucuses disagree on the Executive Board's authority to call a special session. Bolanos and the ALN contend that only the President of the Republic may convoke the Assembly after the official closing of the session (which occurred on December 15). The FSLN argues that the Executive Board may convoke the session. According to the National Assembly's procedural regulations, the Assembly technically remains in session during the final year of its term until the new Assembly is inaugurated -- which seems to support the FSLN's interpretation. ¶6. (C) Comment: Senior Assembly functionary Armando Garcia reported that President-elect Daniel Ortega is upset that Bolanos reneged on an agreement to ignore the bill, which would have allowed the Assembly to enact it without a vote to override the veto. Robust civil society pressure has forced the PLC and FSLN to back away from some of the more controversial elements of the bill, and may sway the new Assembly to scrap it altogether if the FSLN and PLC are not able to orchestrate a vote to override Bolanos' veto before January 9. TRIVELLI