TSE
Says It Has Received
Five Referendum Requests
Since the passage of the
Ley Reguladora del
Referendo en el 2006
(referendum law), the
Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE) says it
has received five
requests for a
referendum, accepting
only one, the referendum
of October 7 that
decided the future of
the Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) - free
trade agreement with the
United States.
Two requests asked the
TSE magistrates to
define the geographical
limits of country,
another asked for a
definite demarcation of
the territorial limits
between the provinces of
Guanacaste and
Puntarenas and the other
was looking to legislate
the maritime zone of
Golfito.
The third, which was
accepted by the TSE, was
the TLC referendum
proposed by former
legislator and
presidential candidate,
José Miguel Corrales.
The other requests, made
by the same petitioner,
that was to be heard at
the beginning of the
month, were curious and
complicated, dealing
with the territorial
limits between Costa
Rica and Nicaragua and
that officials of the
Caja Costarricense de
Seguro Social (CCSS)
place "blessed" water at
the counters of customer
attention.
Accorind to magistrate
Eugenia Zamora, the
petitioner was informed
that the requests did
not comply with article
6 of the Ley Reguladora
del Referendo.
The last request, made
on November 13, asks the
TSE to convoke a
referendum asking the
population to vote on
two environmental
projects now being
discussed in the
Legislature. The
Tribunal has still to
decide on that request.
Any citizen has the
right to ask the TSE for
a referendum.
The process leading to a
referendum starts with a
request that has to be
detailed and complete,
which is then submitted
by the TSE to the
Departamento de
Servicios Técnicos de la
Asamblea Legisaltiva.
If the project has
merit, the Tribunal then
publishes the order in
the official government
publication La Gaceta to
permit the collection of
signatures of at least
5% of the registered
voters.
If the petitioner fails
to collect the required
number of signatures and
within the time frame
set out by the TSE, the
petition will be denied. |
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