Naming of Magistrate Paul Rueda in Costa Rica
On May 27, 2019, Paul Rueda Leal, incumbent magistrate of the Constitutional Chamber, announced his intention to be re-elected in order to continue exercising the position granted to him since June 27, 2011, which ends on June 26, 2019.
The Magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber are elected by a two-thirds vote of the members of the Legislative Assembly (38 deputies) for a period of 8 years. According to Article 158 of the Constitution of Costa Rica, the re-election of the Magistrates will be to continue exercising their position for 8 more years.
The judge must state his intention to be re-elected before the end of the term for which he was first elected. If the judge declares his intention to be re-elected and there is no opposition from any of the deputies of the Legislative Assembly before the end of the 8 years, the magistrate will be automatically re-elected with full rights.
If there is aversion to the re-election of a judge of the Constitutional Chamber, the deputy of the Legislative Assembly who is dissatisfied with the re-election must make a motion to vote for “no re-election”, also regulated in article 158 of the Political Constitution. If the motion obtains two thirds of the votes (38 votes), the non-election of the judge of the Constitutional Chamber will be given. Currently, voting is done by means of ballots on which deputies must indicate “YES” if in favor of re-election or “NO” if in opposition.
For the re-election of Magistrate Paul Rueda it has been debated whether the vote can be done secretly or whether on the contrary, one should have knowledge of the position of each deputy. Those who object to a secret ballot consider that transparency in the process of re-election of the magistrate would be undermined.
Ricardo Nassar Güell
Associate
García & Bodán
Costa Rica