(…) No appeal, ordinary or extraordinary, shall lie against the decisions taken by the Supreme Council on electoral matters. 8 28. According to information in the public domain, President José Daniel Ortega Saavedra served as President under the constitutional system between 1985 and 1990 and between 2006 and 2011, and has been holding the office of President until now. 29. On October 15, 2009, President Ortega and several other Nicaraguans who held public office as municipal mayors expressly requested the Supreme Electoral Council “to apply the constitutional principles of unconditional equality of all Nicaraguan citizens, as set forth in the preamble and Articles 27, 47, 48, 50, and 51 of the Constitution, to participate in the nation’s political affairs, without any limitations other than those stipulated in terms of age and suspension of civil rights on the basis of final court judgments; they also requested the NONAPPLICABILITY of the electoral ban on running for the office of President and VicePresident, Municipal Mayor and Deputy Mayor.” 9 30. On October 16, 2009, the Supreme Electoral Council dismissed this petition, on the basis of the following terms: The Supreme Electoral Council has the following duties: 1. Organize and conduct elections, plebiscites, and referendums that are called in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and law; … 4. Apply constitutional and legal provisions referring to electoral processes. Also monitor observance of said provisions by candidates participating in general and municipal elections. 14. All others given to it by the Constitution and law. So that, although there might have been a possible constitutional contradiction between the constitutional principle of unconditional equality as set forth in Articles 27, 48, 50, and 51 of the Constitution and the principle of the constitutional reelection ban preventing the President and Vice-President of the Republic, Municipal Mayors and Deputy Mayors from participating consecutively as candidates in electoral processes to be held in the elections of November 2011 and 2012, IT DOES NOT PERTAIN TO THE PRESENT SUPREME ELECTORAL COUNCIL TO RESOLVE SAID CONTRADICTION.” 10 31. By virtue of the above, President Ortega and other persons filed an appeal for protection on constitutional grounds (amparo) with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua, arguing that said ruling constitutes a “true and absolute political ban, as it prevents them from participating actively in future national and municipal elections. That said administrative ruling breaches, harms, and undermines the fundamental and supreme principles underpinning the Political Constitution itself.” 11 32. On October 19, 2009, the above-mentioned Chamber issued judgment No. 504 whereby it ruled that the appeal was admissible and judged that Article 147 of the Constitutional was nonapplicable. The Chamber reasoned that: According to the Political Constitution, namely Article 173 in fine and Article 1(a) in fine, there can be no remedy, either ordinary or extraordinary, brought against the rulings issued by the Supreme Electoral Council in this matter, because it is the highest court governing elections in the country and because of that it has exclusive competence in electoral matters (Judgments No. 1-1997, 133-1999, and 151-1999 of the Constitutional Chamber), although this is not the case in administrative matters where said rulings are liable to jurisdictional monitoring (see judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice No. 29-2007, at 4:50 p.m., of August 13, 2007, Cons. III, “unnamed” appeal on the conflict of competence filed by the engineer René Núñez Téllez, Speaker of the National Assembly v. Supreme Electoral Council). (…) Now, said public offices elected by direct suffrage show evidence of INEQUALITY REGARDING EQUALITY OF TERMS, only with reference to the President and Vice-President of the Republic and Municipal Mayors and Deputy Mayors, because said inequality regarding equality of terms consists of: “The right to run for the same public office consecutively in subsequent elections.” For the President and Vice-President: THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED (Article Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua of 1987, Articles 147, 173, and 178. Judgment No. 504 of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, October 19, 2009. 10 Judgment No. 504 of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, October 19, 2009. 11 Judgment No. 504 of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, October 19, 2009. 8 9