The Consortium for Democratic Strengthening made up of the political association Caminemos, the Central American Institute of Political Studies (Incep), the Esquipulas Foundation and the Association for Research and Social Studies (Asies) presented yesterday their final proposals for reforms to the Electoral and Electoral Law. Political parties.
Among the approaches are reviewing the internal structure of political parties, participation, improving registration processes and clearly differentiating concepts such as political and electoral campaigns.
The preparation of the bill is led by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) within the Electoral Update and Modernization Commission (CAME), which hopes to present the project between April 12 and 15, according to electoral sources.
The Consortium proposes that there be requirements within the parties for those who run for elected positions, that they be transparent in internal reports and that the votes within the assemblies be secret. They also propose that there be effective political participation so that it grows from the local to the national level.
The group of analysts did not learn regarding changes related to parity or indigenous peoples, since they are thematic areas that correspond to other social sectors that were also part of the CAME.
The risks
For Roberto Alejos, constituent, former president of Congress and representative of the Camínenos political association, all the legal processes might complicate the bill.
“We have a TSE that is not integrated, that is going to face several trials and has other priorities other than electoral reform. I don’t think they will present it late, we run the risk of the TSE not lobbying for it and not following up on it.”
But legal issues are not the only ones that generate some type of concern among the sectors. Jahir Dabroy from Asies believes that it should also be evaluated how deputies analyze the initiative, so that they do not include issues that, far from strengthening, weaken the system.
“I would be very concerned if the center of the debate or the interest that political organizations have is in debating issues such as transfuguism or lowering standards such as financial reporting.”
Strength and priority
There are issues that are necessary to strengthen the democratic system and avoid the problems of the 2023 event. This is according to Jorge Raúl Cruz, vice president of the Esquipulas Foundation.
“There are many issues, our electoral system passed the acid test and we had some very serious accusations of fraud and it was the citizens who defended the vote.”
For Cruz, something essential that should not be touched is the way in which citizens served as guarantor of the popular will. “Our model of Electoral Boards, of Vote Receiving Boards, is an example for the whole world. This should not be touched other than just to strengthen it.”
Once the issue reaches Congress, Rubén Hidalgo, from Incep, estimates that the issue should be one of the main axes of the legislative agenda. “It would have to be priority number one. Know the reform proposal and make the modifications that are considered appropriate based also on the previous proposals.”
Karina Paz, member of the Board of Directors of Congress, said that once they receive the initiative, the proposal will be a priority for parliament.
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