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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled 5–2 that (1) indefinite presidential re-election is not guaranteed by human rights law; (2) prohibiting re-election is legal; (3) indefinite presidential election goes against the principles of representative democracy. @CorteIDH/1426252560806158339Permalink On twitter.com
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This is a consultative opinion (not made in reference to a particular case), but there are only 4 WH countries with indefinite presidential re-election. Three of them—Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua—had courts overturn term limits based on the argument the IACtHR has rejected here.Permalink On twitter.com
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Theoretically, the IACHR ruling should bind these three countries from allowing indefinite presidential reelection. Venezuela denounced (= revoked its ratification to) the American Convention on Human Rights and probably won't react.Permalink On twitter.com
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Dissenting judges L. Patricio Pazmiño Freire & Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni argue that it's not the role of the Court to decide electoral systems for nations. Zaffaroni makes the case for a right to freely choose to re-elect someone.Permalink On twitter.com
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Substantively, the Court majority argues that rule changes regarding access to office benefit the party in power: "Authoritarian governments perpetuate themselves in power by changing the rules." (¶79)Permalink On twitter.com
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Term limits and bans on re-election predominate in the WH: 1 term ever in four countries; 2 terms in three; 2 consecutive terms in one; nonconsecutive only in seven.Permalink On twitter.com
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Court majority finds that limits on re-election do not overly infringe not the right to choose a leader and "this limitation is smaller in comparison to the benefits for society from prohibiting indefinite presidential re-election." (¶125)Permalink On twitter.com
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Let's be clear that none of this so far is truly surprising: Most governments restrict re-election and the idea that it was a human rights of the re-elected president or the voters was kind of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But the IACtHR went further…Permalink On twitter.com
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In five pages of the ruling the Court majority finds that indefinite presidential re-election is incompatible with "the principles of representative democracy" and thus banned by the American Convention on Human Rights. This is a big deal, even if it only affects 3 countries.Permalink On twitter.com
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The dissenters are clearly upset with this point, and it's surprising they didn't split differently on the decision to highlight how big a step this.Permalink On twitter.com
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Anyhow, the majority argues… 1. Term limits force presidents to prepare for succession, and "avoid the prolonged concentration of power in [one] person," preserve separation of powers, and system of checks and balances. (¶132)Permalink On twitter.com
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2. "Permanence of a single person … has noxious effects on the plural regime of parties and political organizations that defines representative democracy, because it favors the hegemony of certain sectors or ideologies." (¶133)Permalink On twitter.com
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3. Also, unlimited presidential re-election weakens the opposition, who "don't have a clear expectation of their possibility of succeeding to the exercise of power." (¶134)Permalink On twitter.com
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4. Long-term presidential power "affects the independence and separation of powers," notably the judiciary and the civil service. The rights of people to serve in those systems may be affected. (¶139)Permalink On twitter.com
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5. Long-term presidents will use public resources to favor their own election campaigns, undermine the right to freely choose one's leaders. (¶142)On twitter.com
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Court majority: "This Tribunal warns that the greater current danger for the region's democracies is not an abrupt rupture of the constitutional order, but rather a gradual erosion of democratic safeguards … leading to an authoritarian regime, even an elected one."Permalink On twitter.com
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Opinion and dissents are here (Spanish only for now): corteidh.or.cr/docs/opiniones/seriea_28_esp.pdfPermalink On twitter.com