MAS TAKES STEPS AGAINST CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL

UNCLAS LA PAZ 002305 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON PHUM BL SUBJECT: MAS TAKES STEPS AGAINST CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL REF: LA PAZ 1664 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) On August 16, the Constitution Commission in Bolivia's lower house of Congress submitted a report recommending legal action against all but one of Bolivia's five Constitutional Tribunal judges (the Constitutional Tribunal rules on the constitutionality of laws, while the separate Supreme Court acts as the court of final appeal.) In recommending that a case against the magistrates be filed in the Senate, the lower house may have violated Bolivia's constitution, because it did not wait for the required ruling on the magistrates' prior appeal for legal protection. If a formal accusation is lodged, the magistrates will be temporarily suspended until the Senate tries the magistrates. In the mean time, Bolivia will have no legal body overseeing the constitutionality of laws, giving the Executive Branch greater leeway without constitutional oversight. Although the Senate seems likely to vote not to convict, ruling party Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) senators are likely to stall the vote, leaving Bolivia without effective constitutional oversight at a critical time. -------------- The Legal Process -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The case against the Constitutional Tribunal judges is in the preparatory stage in the lower house's Constitution Commission. During this phase, the subjects of an impeachment case have the right to file an appeal for legal protection, which the magistrates did, claiming that their rights were being violated. This appeal for legal protection was accepted by the Congress and transferred to the district court, which in turn decided that the lower house's Human Rights Commission must rule on the issue. The Human Rights Commission has not yet issued a decision, and therefore the case should not proceed. However, the MAS party has a majority in the Constitution Committee (and in the lower house overall). Taking advantage of this majority, the MAS representatives have continued with the case and on August 16 published a report that recommends that the Senate impeach the Constitutional Tribunals. There has not yet been a formal accusation from the President of the lower house, a necessary step if the case is to be put before the Senate (reftel.) -------------- Potential Implications -------------- ¶3. (SBU) If the President of the lower house submits the case to the Senate, the judges will be automatically suspended (even before the Senate makes a decision.) There is no legal limit to the deliberation period, and while the opposition has a one-seat majority in the senate, the MAS could use stalling tactics to prevent a final vote (keeping the Tribunal in limbo.) The judges remain suspended until the senate reaches a decision. In such a situation, substitutes (suplentes) are intended to replace the suspended judges. However, currently the Constitutional Tribunal does not have substitutes available to take over, which would leave a Constitutional Tribunal comprised of only Judge Silvia Salame, who by herself would not have the necessary quorum to issue constitutional decisions. Thus Bolivia could be left without a body to determine constitutionality, leaving President Morales and the Executive branch with ever-more unfettered powers. (Note: On August 19, Vice President Garcia Linera suggested that the Congress would elect new tribunals as soon as possible. Election of magistrates requires a two-thirds vote of the combined Senate and lower chamber. End note.) -------------- Comment -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The recommendation by the Constitutional Commission does not have any legal power without action by the president of the lower house, and therefore this newest wrinkle in the Constitutional Tribunal situation may pass without further issue. If the impeachment process continues, a suspension of the Constitutional Tribunal would come at a particularly difficult time, since a number of issues currently being debated in the Constituent Assembly could be subject to oversight from the Constitutional Tribunal: without a Constitutional Tribunal, these constitutional questions would be left unanswered. On August 20, the Bolivian Bar Association issued a statement: "To close the Tribunal means to remove the only legitimately empowered arbitration which can revise the acts and resolutions of the Assembly and implies the coming of juridical chaos and violence." Whether or not the judges are eventually suspended or impeached, the action by the lower house's Constitutional Commission seems to be yet another example of the MAS testing the limits of its powers. In addition, the impeachment of the constitutional tribunal justices is part of an ongoing MAS campaign to discredit the judiciary, a branch of government the MAS currently does not control. End summary. GOLDBERG