President of Legislative Assembly declares votes against Cruz invalid, legislators appeal

Fernando Cruz

Case will be determined by Sala IV

November 21st, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) The President of Congress, Victor Emilio Granados, stated yesterday that Fernando Cruz was re-elected by default to the Sala IV in October. As a result, he presented a resolution in which he requested Thursday’s votes to remove him to be invalid, as such a vote must be held immediately upon the magistrate’s end of term, according to Granados’ interpretation. Granados also requested that Cruz be allowed to resume his position.

“It (the decision) is to be declared absolutely null,” Granados said, later explaining that the time permitted to hold such a vote had already passed.

However, the resolution did not last long, as the legislator, Luis Gerardo Villanueva, filed an appeal, which was signed and approved by 26 legislators from the PLN, PUSC (Social Christian Party), ML (Liberty Movement) and two independent legislators, quickly leaving Granados’s resolution with no effect.

Granados, Luis Fishman and others who support Cruz say that according to section 158 of the 1949 Constitution, such a vote against the magistrate’s re-election must be taken on the exact date in which his term ends. In Cruz’s case, this was sometime in mid-October.

Granados’s resolution was rejected by most legislators from the PLN party, as well as legislators from PUSC and ML. Edgardo Araya and Xinia Espinoza (PLN), as well as Walter Cespedes and Luis Fishman (PUSC), and all of the members of the PAC (Citizen Action Party) voted in favor of the resolution.

Luis Gerardo Villanueva told the President of the Legislative Assembly that he was “taking the wrong road,” and was to blame for the “institutional crisis” in the Legislative Assembly.

Meanwhile, Luis Fishman said that President Laura Chinchilla has “too much power over PLN legislators.”

Cruz’s fate is now in the hands of the Sala IV. Cruz will be able to return to his post and resume his work on Monday, until Sala IV reaches a decision in the case.