Paraguay’s Senate on March 31 approved a constitutional amendment lifting the one-term rule for presidents. Put in place by Paraguay’s 1992 Constitution following long years of dictatorship, the current rules limit the president to one five-year term. President Horacio Cartes is seeking to lift the one-term limit, a measure supported in the Senate by 25 of 45 legislators. The vote will now go to the Chamber of Deputies, where 44 of the 80 members belong to the president’s Colorado Party. If approved there, the vote will go to a national referendum. In the interim, protests have erupted outside Congress, with at least one protestor reported killed and the Congressional building burned.
Opponents of the term-limit lift assert that it is unconstitutional, including Senate President Roberto Acevedo of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party, who argued that the means used to bring the amendment to a vote violated Senate rules.
From Jurist, April 1. Used with permission.
