35
Government has taken note of the electoral triumph of YATAMA in the
November 2004 municipal elections.
The previous Electoral Act was more representative of the “Nicaraguan people’
expectations of democracy,” because it included the category of “public
subscription association” and contained fewer requirements for forming political
parties than the current Electoral Act. This means that there is an “urgent need”
to reform the Electoral Act. However, the majority political parties in the
National Assembly “do not even have this on the agenda and seem to be
satisfied with the actual law.”
3.
Marvin Saúl Castellón Torres, Deputy Prosecutor for Matters
relating to Property
He referred to the supremacy of the Nicaraguan Constitution, embodied in
Article 182 of the Constitution. Nicaraguan case law has established that the
recourse for unconstitutionality is intended to guarantee this supremacy. The
expert witness referred to the principle of the independence and separation of
powers.
Article 173 of the Constitution stipulates that, “there shall be no ordinary or
special recourse against the resolutions of the Supreme Electoral Council
concerning electoral matters.” The Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua has
ruled that, in electoral matters, no recourse is admissible; nevertheless, it is
possible to file an application for amparo against an administrative act of the
Supreme Electoral Council. When an individual files an appeal for review and
the Supreme Electoral Council does not issue a ruling, the individual would be
“restricted” because the Council’s decision is final.
A reform of the Electoral Act would require “a favorable vote of 60% of the
deputies.” Bearing in mind the political composition of the Legislature, this
would require an agreement between the two majority parties, which are the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and the Constitutionalist Liberal
Party (PLC). If a reform is possible, it should be the “result of an analysis of the
whole Act” by the Supreme Electoral Council.
C) ASSESSMENT OF THE EVIDENCE
Assessment of the documentary evidence
112. In this case, as in others,14 the Court accepts the probative value of the
documents presented by the parties at the proper procedural opportunity or as helpful
evidence, in accordance with Article 45(2) of its Rules of Procedure, that were not
contested or opposed, and whose authenticity was not questioned.
113. Likewise, the State submitted evidence with regard to facts that supervened the
filing of the application, in accordance with Article 44(3) of the Rules of Procedure,;
consequently the Court accepts as evidence those documents that were not contested
or opposed, and whose authenticity was not questioned, and which are related to the
14
Cf. Case of Caesar, supra note 11, para. 46; Case of the Serrano Cruz Sisters, supra note 10, para.
37; and Case of Lori Berenson Mejía, supra note 11, para. 77.
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