Salvadoran Constitutional Court demonstrates independence once again...to the detriment of the FMLN

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that Eugenio Chicas' election as president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal Court was unconstitutional. Chicas is president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal Court and a member of the FMLN Political Commission (not a low level FMLN support but, yes, a member of the powerful political commission). CISPES has an English-language write-up on the developments.

The ruling, issued on Friday, September 14, has dubious legal underpinnings and apparent political motives. El Salvador’s Constitution states that the political parties that received the most votes in the last presidential election propose TSE candidates to Legislative Assembly for election, and that candidates for the presidency of the TSE are proposed by the party that received the greatest number of votes. In an astounding leap of logic, the Chamber noted that the Constitution does not expressly stipulate that the candidates be members of said parties, thus justifying their fundamental claim that party membership inherently compromises the qualifications and performance of public functionaries—an assertion with no constitutional basis. In addition to unseating Chicas, the Court went even further, ruling that the Legislative Assembly could no longer elect any person with partisan affiliation to the TSE or any other national court.

The magistrates ruled against the recommendations of the Attorney General and the Legislative Assembly, both of which submitted briefs insisting that partisan affiliation by no means undermines public officials, and that functionaries should rather be evaluated according to their actions and decisions. Legislative Assembly representatives had also denounced the Court for overreaching its jurisdiction. President Sánchez Cerén’s Chief of Staff Roberto Lorenzana blasted the sentence, saying it political affiliation “is a Constitutional right that cannot be thwarted by four judges; it is a right protected by international treaties that El Salvador has ratified, like the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights.”

For twenty-five years, we've heard that court officials should not have strong political party affiliations. That was actually one of the goals to the judicial reforms that helped pave the way for the FMLN to transform to a political party and to participate in democratic politics. The Courts turned a blind-eye to electoral fraud, government repression, and economic crimes throughout the 1970s and 1980s which is something that led to calls to depoliticize the courts and electoral agencies at all levels.

I don't know whether the Court's decision was legally "dubious;" it seems consistent with what Salvadorans have called for. What I am sure many pro-FMLN people are frustrated with is the fact that it is only with the FMLN occupying the presidency and the largest number of congressional seats that the Constitutional Court seems interested in demonstrating its independence.