Legislative Assembly Of Costa Rica
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The Legislative Assembly () forms the
unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...
legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...
of the Costa Rican government. The national congress building is located in the capital city, San José, specifically in the Carmen district. The Legislative Assembly is composed of 57 deputies (), who are elected by direct, universal, popular vote on a
closed party list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...
,
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
basis, by
province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
, for four-year terms. A 1949 constitutional amendment prevents deputies from serving for two successive terms, though a deputy may run for an Assembly seat again after sitting out a term. , a proposal to switch to
mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...
based on the German system is under discussion.


Parliamentary factions

The parliamentary factions in Costa Rica correspond to the representation of the political parties according to the electoral results obtained for each period: Accordingly, the Electoral Code assigns to the political parties the exclusive legitimacy to nominate candidates for deputies, as stipulated in article 74.


Deputies

The deputies are elected by
province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
. The Assembly is made up of fifty-seven deputies, all Each time a general population census is carried out, the Supreme Electoral Court of Costa Rica reassigns the number of deputies allocated to each province, in proportion to the population of each one of them.Constitución Política, artículo 106.


Requirements

Deputies are elected for four years in office and cannot be successively reelected. There are only three requirements to qualify for the position: # Be a
citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...
; # To be Costa Rican by birth, or by
naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
with ten years of residence in the country after having obtained nationality; # Be at least twenty one years old.


Impediments

Cannot be elected deputies, nor registered as candidates for that function: # The President of the Republic or whoever replaces him in the exercise of the Presidency at the time of the election; # The Government Ministers; # The proprietary
Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
s of the Supreme Court of Justice; # The proprietary and alternate Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and the director of the Civil Registry; # The
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
on active duty; # Those who exercise jurisdiction, civil or police authority, extend to a province; # The managers of the autonomous institutions; # The relatives of the person who exercises the Presidency of the Republic, up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, inclusive. These incompatibilities affect those who hold the indicated positions within the six months prior to the date of the election. For that reason, when an administration is about to end, it is usual that there are several resignations of the people who occupy these positions and try to aspire to a deputy seat. Deputies cannot accept, after being sworn in, under penalty of losing their credentials, any position or employment in the other Powers of the State or autonomous institutions, except in the case of a Ministry of Government. In this case, they will rejoin the National Assembly when they cease to function. The legislative function is also incompatible with the exercise of any other public office of popular election. The deputies may not enter into, directly or indirectly, or by representation, any contract with the State, nor obtain a concession of public goods that implies privilege, nor intervene as directors, administrators or managers in companies that contract with the State, works, supplies or exploitation of
public services A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service (economics), service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing availab ...
.


Parliamentary immunity

The deputies are not responsible for the opinions that they issue in the Legislative Plenary. During the sessions, they cannot be
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...
ed for civil reasons, unless authorized by the Legislative Assembly itself or if the deputy consents to it. From the time they are declared proprietor or alternate deputies, until they end their legal term, they may not be deprived of their liberty for criminal reasons, except when they have previously been suspended by the Legislative Assembly. This parliamentary immunity does not take effect in the case of flagrant crime, or when the deputy renounces it. However, the deputies who have been arrested , will be released if the Legislative Assembly orders it. It is similar to the so-called
parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties ...
of the
Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...
of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
.


Independent deputies

It is possible for a deputy elected by a political party, to separate from the parliamentary faction of that party and act as an independent deputy, however the deputies who avail themselves to this allowance cannot join another legislative faction, only the one for which they were elected, as contemplated in the Regulations of the Legislative Assembly. It is not possible, according to current legislation, for a citizen to directly run for the position of an independent deputy without the representation of a political party. Becoming an independent deputy is protected by virtue of Article 25 of the Constitution of Costa Rica, which states that all citizens have
freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...
and thus cannot be forced to remain in a specific political party and can join any other political group. However, as the Supreme Electoral Court of Costa Rica has repeatedly observed, since deputies are popularly elected, their nomination must be made through a political party, due to the framework of the current legal system, in which the political parties have a monopoly on the nomination of candidates for deputies according to the Electoral Code. Therefore, independent deputies cannot act on behalf of another party for which they were not elected within the legislative board, only independently, nor are they considered a faction, or a ''bloc'', a word that does not exist within the Regulations of the Legislative Assembly. Other activities that belong to the legislative factions or faction leaders are not allowed either, such as including bills on the deliberations. Several independent deputies through history have asked the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to be recognized as the head of a parliamentary faction or to have the financial resources of a faction, in contradiction with the regulations. The court has stated: Thus, there is no regulatory possibility of forming a faction not linked to the representation of a political party that has elected at least one representative by means of suffrage, understood in accordance with article 93 of the Constitution. In the 2018–2022 legislative period several deputies elected through the National Restoration Party and the National Integration Party declared themselves independent and then gave their personal adhesion as a
bloc Bloc may refer to: Government and politics * Political bloc, a coalition of political parties * Trade bloc, a type of intergovernmental agreement * Voting bloc, a group of voters voting together * Black bloc, a tactic used by protesters who wear ...
or individually to parties that were not elected. This, in accordance with the regulations, constitutes a personal affiliation, and it does not imply in any way that the parties they later affiliated to have legal representation as a parliamentary faction, so they are recognized as independent within the directory of deputies of the Legislative Assembly.


Debate about the number and election of deputies

The Legislative Assembly is a
unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...
body of 57 deputies whose number is constitutionally fixed and whose deputies are elected on closed lists nominated by the political parties according to a proportional system. Different experts have recommended the increase in the number of deputies as an urgent need to improve representation, but this proposal is highly unpopular among the population and generates rejection reactions. A report by the
United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
and the Center for Research and Political Studies of the University of Costa Rica recommended increasing the number of legislators to 82. The
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, which made recommendations for more than 100 countries, recommended that the assembly have 115 deputies according to their population (in 1999), The Board of Notables for State Reform () called by President Laura Chinchilla during her administration recommended increasing the number of deputies to between 75 and 85. The movement on the other hand proposed to increase it to 84 and drastically reduce the number of legislative advisers (currently 12) to avoid a very large increase in salaries. A proposal to use the German system for the election of deputies by lawyer Diego González suggests increasing the number to 143, making use of an electoral system in which the country would be divided into 72 electoral circuits of 59,700 inhabitants. Deputies would be elected on two lists, 72 elected by a single-member constituency where a deputy is directly elected for each district, and 71 elected by a proportional constituency where they would be distributed proportionally according to the votes received per party. Most of these proposals also include the change to the
direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...
of deputies and not by closed lists as it is currently.


Composition

The number of seats by province for the 2018–2022 period is:


Directorate

Following the 2022 legislative election, the President of the Legislative Assembly was elected in the person of former presidency minister Rodrigo Arias Sánchez of the National Liberation Party with the support of all deputies except those of the Broad Front.


Parliamentary factions in Legislative Assembly, 2022–2026


Premises

In October 2020 the new building was inaugurated for sessions of the legislative body. Its construction started on 7 March 2018, and has eighteen floors. It is located in the Carmen district of San José. The Assembly used to meet in the Central Building () located immediately east of the current building. Work began on that building in 1937, with the plan of having it serve as the new presidential palace. However, since much of the building materials were imported from
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, the onset of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
put a halt to the project. Work did not restart until 1957, but by 1958 the legislature was installed and operating in its new premises.


History

The foundations of the Legislative Assembly date back to the establishment of various courts and congresses in
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
. The modern assembly was created in the aftermath of the
Costa Rican Civil War The Costa Rican Civil War took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948. The conflict followed the presidential elections of 8 February 1948, in which opposition candidate Otilio Ulate defeated the ruling party's Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. ...
that deposed Teodoro Picado Michalski in 1948. José Figueres Ferrer headed a ruling junta that oversaw the election of a Constituent Assembly. Between 1948 and 1949, this Constituent Assembly created the Constitution of Costa Rica which lays forth the rules governing the assembly today. During each four-year legislative session, various political parties have occupied majority, minority, and coalition caucuses in the assembly.


Central American Parliament

Costa Rica is the only Spanish-speaking
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
n country not to send deputies to the supranational
Central American Parliament The Central American Parliament (), also known as PARLACEN, is the political institution and parliamentary body of the Central American Integration System (SICA). Its headquarters are in Guatemala City. History The PARLACEN's origins date b ...
.


See also

* List of presidents of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica * Politics of Costa Rica *
List of legislatures by country This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general Deliberative assembly, assembly of Representative democracy, representatives and that have th ...


Notes

: Normative based on the Constitution of 1871, basis of the current Constitution of Costa Rica since 1949, in which article 12 states that the army is permanently abolished.


References


External links


Asamblea Legislativa de la República de Costa Rica
{{coord missing, Costa Rica Politics of Costa Rica Political organizations based in Costa Rica
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
* Institutions of Costa Rica
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
Buildings and structures in San José, Costa Rica