What does the TC say about the call for political impeachment of the leaders of the electoral bodies?

Following resolution of a jurisdictional lawsuit filed by Congress against the judiciary, the Constitutional Court (CC) called on the national representation to reform article 99 Magna Carta to members JNE, ONPE and RENIEC exposed political bias.

Currently Article 99 Constitution establishes that Standing Commission can hold the President accountable to Congress; representatives in Congress; government ministers; members of the Constitutional Court; members of the National Council of Magistracy; members of the Supreme Court; supreme prosecutors; Commissioner for Human Rights and Comptroller General for violation Constitution and for any crime which they commit in the exercise of their functions, and for a period of five years after they have ceased to do so.

With such an arrangement parliament he could initiate a process of constitutional reform to subject the leaders of the electoral system to political impeachment. The decision of the TC provoked a wave of criticism, among which was the energetic statement of the former chairman of the TC, Marianella Ledesma, who accused the collegium of “destroying our country” and its “institutionality”.

talking to News ExtensionTC magistrate Gustavo Gutiérrez Tixe evaded answering ledesma and explained that the exhortation collegialregarding reform article 99 Magna Carta, responds to a previous similar request made by the supreme interpreter of the Constitution in 2003, in the so-called case of the 65 Congressmen of the Republic.

“I’m not going to speak about the lady anymore. [Marianella] Ledesma because I think he’s on a political campaign. In 2003, the Constitutional Court ruled in the 65 Congressman case, which stated in Legal Framework 21 that Congress must include members of the electoral system so that they have the prerogative of political litigation and pre-trial proceedings. explained.

“What we did was consider it an exhortation [del año 2003] It has not been resolved, and we consider it important that all high-ranking officials be under judicial and political control,” he added.

“Not a Final Decision”

Defending your judge’s recommendation, Tribune Gutierrez Thisse He specified that the current President of the National Electoral Jury (JNE), Jorge Luis Salas Arenas, as head of the electoral system and Supreme Court judge, would be subject to “the prerogative of political litigation and pre-trial proceedings.”

“Lord Arena Rooms He is a titular justice of the Supreme Court when the gentleman ends his office as president. [del JNE] will again be a justice of the peace Supreme Court. There can be no high-ranking person who is the head of the electoral system, exempt from political control through the mechanisms of the Constitution,” he repeated.

In this sense, the justice of the peace pointed out that this is not a “final ruling”, since the call for the reform of Article 99 of the Criminal Code Constitution must be approved by Congress after possible submission draft constitutional reform.

“We repeated the call [del año 2003]This is not a final decision. The point is not that tomorrow the Congress will be able to exercise political control over the head of ONPE. He will have to reform the Constitution, get 87 votes to be able to include it; what we have done is a call to Congress,” he concluded.