2024-01-29 17:14:21
The new procedure for the election of governors was published this Monday, January 29 in the Diario de Centroamérica. To meet the deadlines that the president, Bernardo Arévalo, announced last week, the Ministry of the Interior reformed the regulations of the Law of the Urban and Rural Development Councils (Codede).
Three articles were added to the regulations, which specify the modality that will be implemented for the election of the 22 governors. Among the approved changes is that citizens will be able to file objections against the applicants, and those who apply must also include a work plan in their file.
Article 36 Bis added to the regulations establishes that, in the call to be published in the Official Gazette, the documentation that interested parties must present to the respective Departmental Council will be specified. Three days later the Codede will meet to form the commission that will be responsible for receiving files.
The process
Five days later the deadline expires and the commission will present the list of candidates at the headquarters of the departmental government and it will be published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior. Citizens will have three days to present objections to the candidates.
“Observations or objections must be presented in writing during business hours at the headquarters of the Departmental Development Council or, in case of not knowing how to read or write, verbally, which must be recorded in the minutes,” the official document reads. .
Article 36 Ter, which is also added, provides that the candidates will be summoned to hear the objections against them and rule on them. A shortlist will be formed that will evaluate the files and rate seven aspects:
- Knowledge of the department’s potential and problems
- Administration capacity and experience
- Leadership to work as a team and under pressure
- Strategic vision
- Empathy with citizen participation
- Workplan
- Preferably with command of a national language, according to the dominant linguistic community.
In the last article that is added to the norm, it focuses on the actions of the shortlist, those who meet the requirements, their files will be sent to President Arévalo via the General Secretariat.
Against
The president explained the procedure last Friday in which he detailed the dates of each phase. The call is expected to be published on Tuesday, January 30, so that starting on February 12, interested citizens will be able to present their proposals and on February 16, the files will be qualified and sent to the presidency in the following five days.
After the president announced this procedure, through a statement the members accredited to the National Council of Urban and Rural Development (Conadur) asked that the legal framework and due process for the appointment of departmental governors be respected. They added that they are unaware of the modality presented by Arévalo.
Redistribution of funds
The president spoke at a press conference regarding the procedure and assured that no contracts or positions have been negotiated with the Legislature. The funds for the works will be allocated according to the government plan.
“Public works contracts are decided based on the government plan and the needs established in it, they are not subject to negotiation,” Arévalo clarified when asked if there were negotiations of any kind with the deputies.
And he recalled that district deputies can be part of the procedure within the functions established by law.
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