El Salvador 1983 Constitution (reviewed 2014)

TITLE VI. ORGANS OF THE GOVERNMENT, POWERS (ATRIBUCIONES) AND COMPETENCES

CHAPTER I. LEGISLATIVE ORGAN

FIRST SECTION. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

Article 121

The Legislative Assembly is a professional associated (colegiado) body composed of Deputies elected in the form prescribed by this Constitution, and to it fundamentally belongs the authority to legislate.

Article 122

The Legislative Assembly shall meet in the capital of the Republic, to initiate its period and without the need of summons, on the first day of May of the year of election of its members. It may move to another place of the Republic to hold (celebrar) its sessions when it shall so resolve.

Article 123

The majority of the members of the Assembly shall be sufficient to deliberate.

To take a resolution, the favorable vote of at least half and one of the elected Deputies is required, except [for] the cases in which, in conformance with this Constitution, a different majority is required.

Article 124

The members of the Assembly shall be renewed every three years and may be reelected. The period of their functions shall commence on the first of May of the year of their election.

Article 125

The Deputies represent the whole nation (pueblo) and are not bound by any imperative mandate. They are inviolable and shall not have responsibility at any time for the opinions or votes they emit.

Article 126

To be elected Deputy, one must be over twenty-five years old, Salvadoran by birth, child of a Salvadoran father or mother, of well-known integrity and education and must not have lost the rights of citizenship during the five years preceding the election.

Article 127

The following shall not be candidates for Deputies:

1. The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, functionaries of the electoral organisms, military officers in active service (de alta), and in general, functionaries who exercise jurisdiction;
2. Those who have administered or managed public funds, while they have not obtained the settlement of their accounts;
3. The contractors for public works or businesses paid for with State or Municipal funds, their sureties (caucioneros), and those who, as a result of such works or businesses, have pending claims of their own interest;
4. The relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity;
5. The debtors of the Public or Municipal Treasury who are in default;
6. Those who have contracts or concessions pending with the State for the exploitation of national resources (riquezas) or public services, as well those who have accepted [positions as] their representatives or administrative attorneys, or foreign companies (sociedades) that are found to be in the same situation.

The incompatibilities referred to in the first number (ordinal) of this Article affect those who held the indicated positions within the three months prior to the election.

Article 128

The Deputies shall not be contractors nor bonders of public works or businesses which are financed with funds of the State or of the Municipality; neither shall they obtain concessions of the State for the exploitation of national resources or for public services; nor accept to be representatives or administrative attorneys of national persons or foreigners who have those contracts or concessions.

Article 129

The Deputies in office (en ejercicio) shall not hold remunerated public positions during the time for which they have been elected, except those of a teaching or cultural character, and those related to the professional services of social assistance.

Nevertheless, they may hold the positions of Ministers or Vice Ministers of State, Presidents of Official Autonomous Institutions, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, Consular [Missions] or carry out Special Diplomatic Missions. In these cases, they shall be reincorporated into the Assembly when their functions cease, if the period of their election is still in force.

The alternates may hold jobs or public offices without their acceptance and exercise producing the loss of these positions (calidad).

Article 130

The Deputies shall cease in their position in the following cases:

1. When they are convicted for serious crimes in a definitive sentence;
2. When they commit the prohibitions contained in Article 128 of this Constitution;
3. When they resign without just cause qualified as such by the Assembly;

In these cases, they shall remain unqualified to carry out any other public post during the period of their election.

Article 131

It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly:

1. To determine its internal regulation;
2. To accept or reject the credentials of its members, to receive the constitutional oath (protesta) from them, and provide them with responsibilities in the cases foreseen by this Constitution;
3. To take cognizance of the resignations presented by the Deputies, admitting them when they are based on a legally proven just cause;
4. To call on alternate Deputies in the case of death, resignation, nullification of election, temporary leave, or the inability of the members (propietarios) to attend;
5. To decree, interpret authentically, reform and abrogate the secondary laws;
6. To decree taxes, valuations (tasas), and other contributions on all classes of property, services and income, in equitable relation; and in the case of invasion, legally declared war or public disaster, to decree forced loans in the same relation, if the ordinary public revenues are insufficient;
7. To ratify the treaties or pacts made (celebre) by the Executive with other States or international organisms, or to refuse their ratification;
8. To decree the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Public Administration, as well as its reforms;
9. To create and suppress positions, to assign salaries to the functionaries and employees in accordance with the Civil Service regimen;
10. To approve its budget and salary system, as well as its reforms, consulting previously with the President of the Republic on them, for the sole effect of guaranteeing that the necessary funds exist for their compliance. Once approved, said budget shall be incorporated into the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Public Administration;
11. To decree, in a general manner, financial benefits and incentives or those of any nature, for the promotion of services or cultural, scientific, agricultural, industrial and commercial activities;
12. To decree laws on the recognition of the public debt and create and assign the funds necessary for its payment;
13. To establish and regulate the national monetary system and to decide upon the admission and circulation of foreign currency;
14. To receive the constitutional oath and give possession of their position to citizens who, in conformity with law, shall exercise the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic;
15. To decide upon resignations interposed and leaves solicited by the President and Vice President of the Republic and Designates, after personal ratification before the same Assembly;
16. To obligatorily disavow the President of the Republic or his substitute if, when his constitutional term has ended, he continues in the exercise of his post. In this case, if no person has been legally summoned for the exercise of the Presidency, a Provisional President shall be designated;
17. To elect, for all of the respective presidential term, in a public and registered (nominal) vote, two persons who in character of Designates shall exercise [the power of] the Presidency of the Republic, in the cases and in the order determined by this Constitution;
18. To receive the work report that shall be delivered by the Executive through his Ministers, and approve or disapprove it;
19. To elect in a public and registered vote the following functionaries: the President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President and Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the President and Magistrates of the Court of Accounts (Corte de Cuentas) of the Republic, the Attorney General (Fiscal General) of the Republic, the Procurator General (Procurador General) of the Republic, the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, and Members of the National Council of the Judiciary;
20. To declare, with no less than two-thirds of the votes of the elected Deputies, the physical or mental incapacity of the President, Vice President of the Republic and of functionaries elected by the Assembly for the exercise of their posts, after the unanimous judgment of a Commission of five physicians named by the Assembly;
21. To determine the authorities (atribuciones) and competences of the different functionaries when by this Constitution it has not been done;
22. To grant, to persons or towns, titles, honorary distinctions and rewards compatible with the form of government established, for relevant services lent to the Nation (Patria).Nevertheless, it is prohibited to grant these titles, distinctions and rewards, while they occupy their posts, to the following functionaries: the President and Vice President of the Republic, Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, Deputies to the Legislative Assembly, and the President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice;
23. To grant permission to Salvadorans to accept honorific distinctions bestowed by foreign governments;
24. To grant temporary leaves or privileges for cultural or scientific activities or works;
25. To declare war and ratify peace, on the basis of reports provided to it by the Executive Organ;
26. To grant amnesty for political or common crimes connected with these, or for common crimes committed by not less than twenty persons; and to grant pardons, upon favorable report of the Supreme Court of Justice;
27. To suspend and re-establish the constitutional guarantees in agreement with Article 29 of this Constitution, in a public and registered vote with at least two-thirds of the elected Deputies;
28. To grant or refuse permission to Salvadorans to accept diplomatic or consular posts to be exercised in El Salvador;
29. To permit or refuse the transit of foreign troops through the territory of the Republic, and the stationing of ships or airships [used for] war of other countries for more time than is established by international treaties or practices;
30. To approve the concessions to which Article 120 of this Constitution refers;
31. To create judicial districts and establish positions, as proposed by the Supreme Court, so the respective officials take cognizance of all kinds of criminal, civil, mercantile, labor, contentious, administrative, agrarian and other cases;
32. To name special commissions for the investigation of matters of national interest and to adopt the agreements or recommendations that are esteemed necessary based on the report of said commissions;
33. To decree the National Symbols;
34. To question Ministers or Managers of the Commission (Despacho) and Presidents of Official Autonomous Institutions;
35. To determine the force majeure or fortuitous case to which the last paragraph of Article 80 refers;
36. To receive the work report which must be provided by the Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, the President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic, and the President of the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador;
37. To recommend to the President of the Republic the dismissal of the Ministers of State; or to the corresponding organs, that functionaries in Official Autonomous Institutions be dismissed, when it believes this to be appropriate, as a result of an investigation of its special committees or of an interpellation, in such case. The resolution of the Assembly shall be binding when it refers to the heads of public security or of the intelligence [department] of the State for a cause involving grave violations of Human Rights;
38. To practice the other powers (atribuciones) indicated by this Constitution.

Article 132

All the public functionaries and employees, including those of Official Autonomous Institutions and the Members of the Armed Force, are under the obligation to collaborate with the special commissions of the Legislative Assembly; and the appearance and declaration of these as well as any other person required by the mentioned commissions shall be obligatory under the same summons that are observed in the judicial procedure.

The conclusions of the special commissions of investigation of the Legislative Assembly shall not be obliging (vinculante) for the tribunals, nor shall they affect the judicial proceedings or resolutions, without prejudice that the result be communicated to the General Office of the Attorney General (Fiscalía) of the Republic for the exercise of pertinent actions.

SECOND SECTION. THE LAW, ITS FORMATION, PROMULGATION AND OPERATION

Article 133

[The following] have exclusive power to propose laws:

1. The Deputies;
2. The President of the Republic through his Ministers;
3. The Supreme Court of Justice, in matters related to the Judicial Organ, to the exercise of the work of Notaries and Lawyers, and to the jurisdiction and competence of the Tribunals;
4. The Municipal Councils in matters of municipal taxes.
5. The Central American Parliament, through the Deputies of the State of El Salvador conforming it, in matters concerning the integration of the Central American Isthmus, in accordance with Article 89 of this Constitution.

In the same manner, the Deputies of the State of El Salvador that are members of the Central American Parliament shall have the initiative on the above-referenced subject matter.

Article 134

Every bill of law which is approved must be signed by the majority of the members of the Executive Board (Junta Directiva). One copy shall be kept in the Assembly and two shall be sent to the President of the Republic.

Article 135

Every bill of law shall be transmitted to the President of the Republic no later than ten business days after being debated and approved, and if he has no objections, he shall ratify it and order its publication as law.

Sanction by the President of the Republic shall not be necessary in the case of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 32nd, 34th, 35th, 36th, and 37th ordinals of Article 131 of this Constitution and in precedents (antejuicios) recognized by the Assembly.

Article 136

If the President of the Republic finds no objection to a bill [he has] received, he shall sign two copies, send one back to the Assembly and leave the other in his archive and he shall have the text published as law in the corresponding official organ.

Article 137

When the President of the Republic vetoes a bill of law, he shall return it to the Assembly within eight business days of receiving it, indicating the reasons on which his veto is founded; if within such term he has failed to return it, it shall be considered ratified and he shall order its publication as law.

In the case of a veto, the Assembly shall reconsider the bill and if it should ratify it with at least two-thirds of the votes of elected Deputies, it shall send it again to the President of the Republic, and he shall sanction it and send it to be published.

If he returns it with observations, the Assembly shall consider them and resolve anything it believes convenient by the majority established in Article 123, and send it to the President of the Republic, who shall sanction it and send it to be published.

Article 138

When a bill of law is returned because the President of the Republic considers it to be unconstitutional and the Legislative Organ ratifies it in the manner established in the preceding article, the President of the Republic shall present it to the Supreme Court of Justice within three business days, so that the latter may, after hearing the arguments of both sides, decide whether it is or is not constitutional, within fifteen business days at the latest. If the Court decides that the bill is constitutional, the President of the Republic shall be obligated to sanction it and to order its publication as law.

Article 139

The term for the publication of laws shall be fifteen business days. If the President of the Republic has not published them within the prescribed term, the President of the Legislative Assembly shall order their publication as laws in the Official Gazette or any other daily newspaper among those with the largest circulation in the Republic.

Article 140

No law is binding (obliga) except by virtue of its promulgation and publication. For a law of permanent character to be binding, at least eight days must pass after its publication. This period may be extended, but not restricted.

Article 141

In case of an evident error in the printing of the text of the law, it shall be republished at the latest within ten days. The last publication shall be had as its authentic text; and the term for it to enter into effect shall be counted from the date of the new publication.

Article 142

To interpret, reform, or repeal the laws, the same procedure shall be observed as for its formation.

Article 143

When a bill is rejected or not ratified, it shall not be proposed within the following six months.

THIRD SECTION. TREATIES

Article 144

The international treaties formalized (celebrados) by El Salvador with other states or international organisms, constitute laws of the Republic once they enter into effect, in conformity with the dispositions of the same treaty and of this Constitution.

The law shall not modify or repeal that agreed in a treaty in effect for El Salvador. In case of conflict between the treaty and the law, the treaty shall prevail.

Article 145

Treaties in which constitutional dispositions are in any manner restricted or affected shall not be ratified, unless the ratification is done with the corresponding reservations. The dispositions of the treaty on which the reservations are made are not law of the Republic.

Article 146

Treaties shall not be formalized or ratified or concessions granted, that in any manner, alter the form of government or damage or impair the integrity of the territory, the sovereignty and independence of the Republic or the fundamental rights and guarantees of the human person.

That decreed in the preceding paragraph is applied to international treaties or contracts with governments or national or international business in which the Salvadoran State submits itself to the jurisdiction of a tribunal of a foreign state.

The preceding does not impede that, in treaties as well as in contracts, the Salvadoran State submit the decision, in case of controversy, to an arbitration or an international court.

Article 147

For the ratification of any treaty or pact for which any question related to the limits of the Republic are submitted to arbitration, a vote of at least three-quarters of the elected Deputies shall be necessary.

Any treaty or agreement formalized by the Executive Organ referring to the national territory, shall also require a vote of at least three-quarters of the elected Deputies.

Article 148

It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly to authorize the Executive Organ to contract voluntary loans (empréstitos), inside or outside the Republic, when a grave and urgent necessity demands it, and to guarantee debts (obligaciones) contracted by state or municipal entities of public interest.

The obligations contracted in conformity with this disposition shall be submitted to the cognizance of the Legislative Organ, which shall not ratify them with less than a two- thirds vote of the elected Deputies.

The legislative decree in which the issuance or contracting of a loan is authorized, shall clearly express the end to which the funds of this shall be designated, and in general, all the essential conditions of the operation.

Article 149

The authority to declare the inapplicability of the dispositions of any treaty contrary to the constitutional precepts shall be exercised by the tribunals within the jurisdiction of administrative justice.

The declaration of unconstitutionality of a treaty, in a general and obligatory manner, shall be made in the same form foreseen by this Constitution for the laws, decrees and regulations.

CHAPTER II. EXECUTIVE ORGAN

Article 150

The President and the Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State and their dependant functionaries, integrate the Executive Organ.

Article 151

To be elected President of the Republic it is required: to be a Salvadoran by birth, child of a Salvadoran father or mother; to be a layman (del estado seglar), over thirty years of age, of well-known morality and instruction; to be in the exercise of the rights of citizenship, having been so for the six years preceding the election, and to be affiliated with one of the legally recognized political parties.

Article 152

[The following] shall not be candidates for the President of the Republic:

1. He who has filled the Presidency of the Republic for more than six months, consecutive or not, during the period immediately prior to or within the last six months prior to the beginning of the presidential period;
2. The spouse and relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of any of the persons who have exercised the Presidency in the cases [included in] the preceding ordinal;
3. He who has been President of the Legislative Assembly or President of the Supreme Court of Justice during the year prior to the day that initiates the presidential period;
4. He who has been Minister, Vice Minister of State, or President of any Official Autonomous Institution, and the General Director of the National Civil Police, within the last year of the immediately previous presidential term;
5. Professional military persons (militares) who were in active service or who have been so within the three years prior to the day of the beginning of the presidential period;
6. The Vice President or the Designate who when legally called to exercise the Presidency in the immediately preceding period, refused to fill it without just cause, meaning that this exists when the Vice President or the Designate manifests his intention to be a candidate to the Presidency of the Republic within the six months prior to the beginning of the presidential period;
7. The persons included in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ordinals of Article 123 of this Constitution.

Article 153

That proclaimed in the two preceding articles shall apply to the Vice President of the Republic and the Designates to the Presidency.

Article 154

The presidential period shall be of five years, and shall begin and end on the first of June, without the person who exercised the Presidency being able to continue in his functions one day more.

Article 155

In default of the President of the Republic, due to death, resignation, removal or other cause, the Vice President shall substitute him; lacking the latter, one of the Designates in the order of their nomination, and if all these are lacking for any legal cause, the Assembly shall designate the person who shall substitute him.

If the cause that incapacitates the President for the exercise of his position endures for more than six months, the person who substitutes him in conformance with the preceding paragraph, shall complete the presidential period.

If the incapacity of the President is temporary, his substitute shall exercise the position only while this lasts.

Article 156

The positions of the President and Vice President of the Republic and of the Designates are only resignable for a duly substantiated grave cause that shall be approved by the Assembly.

Article 157

The President of the Republic is the Commander-in-Chief (Comandante General) of the Armed Force.

Article 158

The President of the Republic is prohibited from leaving the national territory without the permission of the Legislative Assembly.

Article 159

For the management of public businesses, there shall be the necessary Offices of Secretaries of State (Secretarías de Estado), among which the various Branches of the Administration are to be distributed. Each Office of a Secretary of State shall be under the direction of a Minister, who shall act with the collaboration of one or more Vice Ministers. The Vice Ministers shall replace the Ministers in the cases determined by the law.

The National Defense and Public Security shall be assigned to different Ministries. Public Security shall be the duty of the National Civil Police, which shall be a professional body, independent of the Armed Force and detached from all party activity.

The National Civil Police shall be charged with the functions of urban police and rural police, which guarantee order, security and public tranquility, as well as collaboration in the investigation of crime, and all the proceeding in accordance with the law and with strict respect for Human Rights.

Article 160

To be a Minister or Vice Minister of State it is required to be Salvadoran by birth, more than twenty-five years old, a layman, of well-known morality and instruction; to be in the exercise of the rights of citizenship, having been so for the six years preceding his appointment.

Article 161

The persons included in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ordinals of Article 127 of this Constitution shall not be Ministers nor Vice Ministers of State.

Article 162

It corresponds to the President of the Republic to appoint, remove, accept the resignations of, and grant leave to, Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, as well as the Chief of Public Security and of the State Intelligence.

Article 163

The decrees, agreements, orders, and rulings of the President of the Republic must be referred and communicated by the Ministers in their respective Branches, or by the Vice Ministers as the case may be. Without these requirements, they shall have no legal authenticity.

Article 164

All the decrees, agreements, orders, and resolutions issued by the functionaries of the Executive Organ, exceeding the powers that this Constitution establishes, shall be null and should not be obeyed, even if issued with the intent of submitting them for the approval of the Legislative Assembly.

Article 165

The Ministers or Persons in Charge of the Office (Encargados del Despacho) and Presidents of the Official Autonomous Institutions must appear before the Legislative Assembly to answer interpellations addressed to them.

The functionaries called to [answer to] interpellation[s] who, without just cause, refuse to appear will be, by this action, removed from their offices.

Article 166

There shall be a Council of Ministers integrated by the President and Vice President of the Republic and the Ministers of State or those who take their place.

Article 167

It corresponds to the Council of Ministers:

1. To decree the Internal Regulations of the Executive Organ and its own Regulations;
2. To elaborate the general plan of the Government;
3. To elaborate the projected budget of revenues and expenditures and present it to the Legislative Assembly, at least three months before the new fiscal period (ejercicio) initiates.It shall also have cognizance of the reforms to said budget when it deals with transfers between parties of different Branches of Public Administration;
4. To authorize the distribution of sums that have not been included in the budgets, to the end of satisfying necessities arising from war, public calamity, or grave disturbance of the order, if the Legislative Assembly were not convened, immediately informing the Board of Directors (Junta Directiva) of the same, of the causes that motivated that measure, to the effect that if assembled, it approves or does not approve the corresponding credits;
5. To propose to the Legislative Assembly the suspension of constitutional guarantees to which Article 29 of this Constitution refers;
6. To suspend and reestablish the constitutional guarantees to which Article 28 of this Constitution refers, if the Legislative Assembly is not assembled. In the first case, it must immediately advise the Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly of the causes that motivated the measure and the actions that it has executed in relation therewith;
7. To convoke extraordinarily the Legislative Assembly when the interests of the Republic demand it;
8. To take cognizance of and decide on all the affairs the President of the Republic submits for its consideration.

Article 168

[The following] are the powers and obligations of the President of the Republic:

1. To observe and enforce the Constitution, treaties, laws, and other legal dispositions;
2. To maintain unimpaired the sovereignty of the Republic and the integrity of its territory;
3. To strive for social harmony, and conserve peace and interior tranquility and the security of the human being as a member of the society;
4. To make international treaties and conventions, submit them to the Legislative Assembly for ratification, and see to their observance;
5. To direct the foreign relations;
6. To present through the Ministers, to the Legislative Assembly within the two months following the end of each year, the work report of the Public Administration for the year completed. The Minister of the Treasury shall moreover present, within the three months following the end of each fiscal period, the general account of the last budget and the demonstrative statement of the situation of the Public Treasury and the Fiscal Patrimony.If these obligations are not completed within the terms indicated, a Minister who fails to do so is by this fact removed and the President of the Republic shall be immediately notified so he may appoint a substitute. The latter shall submit the corresponding report within the following thirty days. If still in this case the prescribed is not complied with, the new Minister shall be removed;
7. To give to the Legislative Assembly the reports that it requests, except when it is a matter of secret military plans. With respect to political negotiations that it is necessary to maintain confidential, the President of the Republic shall give notice, so that they may be taken cognizance of in secret session;
8. To sanction, promulgate, and publish the laws and to see that they are enforced;
9. To supply to functionaries of the judicial order the aids they need to enforce their rulings (providencias);
10. To commute sentences, based on the prior report and favorable judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice;
11. To organize, lead, and maintain the Armed Force, confer military degrees and command the stationing, duty, or discharge of the Officers (Oficiales) of same, in conformity with the law;
12. To deploy the Armed Force to defend the State’s Sovereignty and its territorial integrity. Exceptionally, if the regular means for maintaining internal peace, tranquility, and public order have been exhausted, the President of the Republic may deploy the Armed Force for this end. The activation of the Armed Force shall be limited to the time and the measure strictly necessary for re-establishing order and shall cease as soon as this task is completed. The President of the Republic shall keep the Legislative Assembly informed on such activities, which may arrange to stop such exceptional means at any time. In any case, within fifteen days following their termination, the President of the Republic shall present to the Legislative Assembly a detailed report on the performance of the Armed Force;
13. To wage (dirigir) war and make peace, and immediately submit any treaty made for this end purpose to the Legislative Assembly for ratification;
14. To decree the regulations necessary to facilitate and assure the application of the laws whose execution corresponds to him;
15. To guard for the efficient management and realization of public businesses;
16. To propose the list of three persons among whom the Legislative Assembly must elect the two Designees to the Presidency of the Republic;
17. To organize, lead, and maintain the National Civil Police to preserve peace, tranquility, order, and public security, in the urban realm as well as in the rural, with strict attachment to respect for Human Rights and under the direction of civil authorities;
18. To organize, lead, and maintain the Intelligence Agency (Organismo) of the State;
19. To annually fix a reasonable number of troops for the Armed Force and National Civil Police;
20. To exercise other powers conferred by the Laws.

Article 169

The appointment, removal, acceptance of resignations, and granting of leaves to functionaries and employees of the Public Administration and of the Armed Force, shall be governed by the Internal Regulations of the Executive Organ or other laws and regulations that are applicable.

Article 170

The diplomatic and consular representatives by career accredited by the Republic must be Salvadoran by birth.

Article 171

The President of the Republic, the Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice Ministers are jointly (solidariamente) responsible for the acts that they authorize. Ministers and Vice Ministers who are present or who take the place of others (hagan sus veces), are responsible for the resolutions made in the Council of Ministers, even if they did not vote for the measure, unless they present their resignation immediately after the resolution is adopted.

CHAPTER III. JUDICIAL ORGAN

Article 172

The Supreme Court of Justice, the Chambers of Second Instance and the other tribunals established by the secondary laws, integrate the Judicial Organ. The power to judge and execute what is judged on in constitutional, civil, penal, mercantile, labor, agrarian and administrative legal (contencioso-administrativo) matters, as well as in others determined by the law, corresponds exclusively to this Organ.

The organization and functioning of the Judicial Organ shall be determined by law.

The Magistrates and Judges, in matters referring to the exercise of jurisdictional functions, are independent and are subject exclusively to the Constitution and the law.

The Judicial Organ shall have at its disposal an annual allocation of no less than six percent of the current income of the State’s budget.

Article 173

The Supreme Court of Justice shall be made up of the number of Magistrates determined by the law, who will be elected by the Legislative Assembly, and one of them shall be the President. He shall be the President of the Judicial Organ.

The law shall determine the internal organization of the Supreme Court of Justice, in such a way that the powers that correspond to it shall be distributed among different Divisions (Salas).

Article 174

The Supreme Court of Justice shall have a Constitutional Division, to which it will correspond to take cognizance of and resolve the petitions of unconstitutionality of laws, decrees and regulations, cases on amparo, habeas corpus, controversies between the Legislative Organ and Executive Organ to which Article 138 refer, and causes mentioned in the 7th power (atribución) of Article 182 of this Constitution.

The Constitutional Division shall be integrated by five Magistrates designated by the Legislative Assembly. Its President shall be elected by the same on each occasion in which it corresponds [to the Legislative Assembly] to elect Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice; who shall be President of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Judicial Organ.

Article 175

There shall be Chambers of Second Instance composed of two Magistrates for each, Courts (Juzgados) of First Instance and Courts of Peace. Their number, jurisdiction, powers, and residence shall be determined by the law.

Article 176

To be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, it is required: to be Salvadoran by birth, a layman, over forty years old, a lawyer of the Republic, of well-known morality and competence; to have served as a Magistrate of Second Instance for six years or as a judge (judicatura) of First Instance for nine years, or to have obtained authorization to exercise the profession of lawyer at least ten years before his election; to be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship, having been so for six years before filling his position.

Article 177

To be a Magistrate of the Chambers of Second Instance, it is required: to be Salvadoran, a layman, over thirty-five years old, a lawyer of the Republic, of well-known morality and competence; to have served as a judge of First Instance for six years, or to have obtained authorization to exercise the profession of lawyer at least eight years before his election; to be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship, having been so for six years before filling his position.

Article 178

Spouses or relatives included amongst themselves within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity shall not be elected Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice nor to the same Chamber of Second Instance.

Article 179

To be a Judge of First Instance, it is required: to be Salvadoran, a layman, a lawyer of the Republic, of well-known morality and competence; to have served as a justice of peace during one year or have obtained the authorization to exercise the profession of lawyer two years before his appointment; to be in the exercise of the rights of citizenship, having been so for three years preceding filling his position.

Article 180

The minimum requirements to be a Justice of Peace are: to be Salvadoran, an attorney of the Republic, a layman, more than twenty-one years old, of well-known morality and competence; to be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship and to have been for three years prior to being appointed. Justices of the Peace shall be included in the judicial career.

In exceptional cases, the National Council of the Judicature may propose persons who are not attorneys for positions as Justice of the Peace, but the period of their functions shall be one year.

Article 181

The administration of justice shall always be free of charge.

Article 182

The powers of the Supreme Court of Justice are:

1. To hear cases on amparo;
2. To settle competitions that arise among the tribunals of any jurisdiction (fuero) or nature;
3. To take cognizance of prize cases (causas de presa), and of those not reserved to another authority; to order the issuance of letters or commissions rogatory created to perform proceedings outside the Republic and to demand compliance with those proceeding from other countries, without prejudice to the provisions of existing treaties; and to grant extradition;
4. To grant, according to the law and when necessary, permission for the execution of sentences pronounced by foreign courts;
5. To see that justice is promptly and faithfully administered, for which it shall adopt the measures it deems necessary;
6. To take cognizance of the responsibility of public functionaries in those cases indicated by the laws;
7. To hear cases of suspension or loss of the rights of citizenship in the cases included in numbers 2 and 4 of Article 74, and in numbers 1, 3, 4, and 5 of Article 75 of this Constitution, as well as of the corresponding rehabilitation;
8. To issue reports and opinions on applications for pardon and change of punishment;
9. To appoint Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, Judges of First Instance, and Justices of Peace from the lists of three candidates (ternas) proposed by the National Council of the Judicature; as well as Forensic Physicians and the employees of their dependent offices; to remove them, to recognize their resignations, and to grant them leave;
10. To appoint associate justices in those cases provided by the law;
11. To receive, personally or through functionaries it designates, the constitutional oath of office of the functionaries appointed by it;
12. To admit lawyers and authorize them to practice their profession; to suspend them for nonfulfillment of professional obligations, for grave negligence or ignorance, unethical professional conduct, or for notoriously immoral private conduct; to disqualify them for venality, bribery, fraud, deceit, and others, and to reinstate them for legal reasons. In cases of suspension and disqualification it shall proceed in the manner prescribed by law and render decisions only on the moral force of the evidence. The same powers shall be exercised with respect to notaries;
13. To prepare the budget bill for salaries and expenditures in the administration of justice and send it to the Executive Organ for inclusion, without modifications, in the bill for the General Budget of the State. The Legislative Assembly shall consult with the Supreme Court of Justice for the budgetary adjustments that it may deem necessary to this proposed budget;
14. The others determined by this Constitution and the law.

Article 183

The Supreme Court of Justice, through the Constitutional Division, shall be the sole tribunal competent to declare the unconstitutionality of laws, decrees, and regulations, by their form or content, in a general and compulsory manner, and it may do so on the petition of any citizen.

Article 184

The Chambers of Second Instance of the capitol, according to the matter, shall take cognizance of trials against the State in first instance, and the respective Division of the Supreme Court of Justice shall hear them in the second instance.

Article 185

Within the power of administering justice, it corresponds to the courts, in cases in which they must pronounce judgment, to declare the inapplicability of any law or order of the other Organs that is contrary to constitutional principles.

Article 186

The judicial career is established.

Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice shall be elected by the Legislative Assembly for a term of nine years; they may be re-elected and they shall be renewed by thirds every three years. They may be removed by the Legislative Assembly for specific causes previously established by the law. A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the elected Deputies is necessary to elect them, as well as to remove them from office.

The election of Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice shall be made from a list of candidates which the National Council of the Judicature shall form according to the terms established by law, half of which shall originate from the contributions of the representative entities of the Attorneys of El Salvador and where the most relevant currents of judicial thought must be represented.

Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, Judges of the First Instance and Justices of the Peace integrated in the judicial career shall enjoy stability in their posts.

The law must assure judges protection so they may exercise their functions in all matters which they recognize with complete freedom, impartially, and without any influence; and the means that guarantee them a just remuneration and a standard of living adjusted to the responsibility of their positions.

The law shall regulate the requirements and the form of income for the judicial career, promotions, advancements, transfers, and disciplinary sanctions for the functionaries included in it and other questions inherent to said career.

Article 187

The National Council of the Judicature is an independent institution, charged with proposing candidates for the positions of Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, Judges of the First Instance, and Justices of the Peace.

The National Council of the Judicature shall be responsible for the organization and functioning of the School of Judicial Training, the object of which is to assure improvement in the professional development of judges and other judicial functionaries.

Members of the National Council of the Judicature shall be elected and removed by the Legislative Assembly by the authorized vote of two-thirds of the elected Deputies.

The law shall determine what concerns this matter.

Article 188

The position of Magistrate or Judge is incompatible with the exercise of advocacy or notarizing, as well as that of functionary of other Organs of the State, except as a teacher and diplomat on a transitory mission.

Article 189

The Jury is established for the trial of the common crimes determined by the law.

Article 190

Jurisdictional privilege (fuero atractivo) is prohibited.

CHAPTER IV. PUBLIC MINISTRY

Article 191

The Public Ministry shall be exercised by the Attorney General (Fiscal General) of the Republic, the Procurator General (Procurador General) of the Republic, the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, and other functionaries determined by the law.

Article 192

The Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, and the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights shall be elected by the Legislative Assembly by an authorized majority of two-thirds of the elected Deputies.

They shall last three years in the exercise of their posts and they may be re-elected. They may be removed from office only for legal causes, with the vote of two-thirds of the elected Deputies.

The same qualifications are required to be Attorney General of the Republic or Procurator General of the Republic as to be a Magistrate of the Chambers of Second Instance.

The law shall determine the requirements which must be met by the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights.

Article 193

It corresponds to the Attorney General:

1. To defend the interests of the State and of society;
2. To officially or upon the petition of a party promote the action of justice in defense of legality;
3. To direct the investigation of crime with the collaboration of the National Civil Police in the manner determined by law;
4. To officially or upon the petition of a party promote penal action;
5. To defend the fiscal interests and to represent the State in all cases and contracts concerning the acquisition of personal property in general and of property subject to litigation, and any others specified by law;
6. To promote the prosecution and punishment of persons indicted (indiciados) for crimes against the authorities, and for contempt;
7. To appoint special commissions for the fulfillment of its functions;
8. To appoint, remove, grant leaves to, and accept resignations of Attorneys (Fiscales) of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Chambers of Second Instance, the Military Tribunals, and tribunals that take cognizance in the first instance, and Attorneys of the Treasury Department. He has the same powers with respect to functionaries and employees of his dependent office;
9. Abrogated;
10. To ensure that in the concessions granted to any class by the State, the requirements, conditions and purposes established in the same are complied with and to exercise the corresponding actions;
11. To exercise other powers prescribed by law.

Article 194

The Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights and the Procurator General of the Republic shall have the following Functions:

1. It corresponds to the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights:
   1. To guard for the respect and guarantee of Human Rights;
   2. To investigate, officially or by a denouncement that has been received, cases of Human Rights violations;
   3. To assist alleged victims of Human Rights violations;
   4. To promote judicial or administrative resources for the protection of Human Rights;
   5. To maintain vigil over the situation of private persons with respect to their freedom. He shall be notified of all arrests and shall take care that the legal limits of administrative detention are respected;
   6. To carry out inspections, where he deems necessary, to secure respect for Human Rights;
   7. To supervise the performance of the Public Administration before persons;
   8. To promote reforms before Organs of the State for the advancement of Human Rights;
   9. To issue opinions on bills of law which affect the exercise of Human Rights;
   10. To promote and propose steps he deems necessary to prevent violations of Human Rights;
   11. To publicly or privately formulate conclusions and recommendations;
   12. To elaborate and publish reports;
   13. To develop a permanent program of promotion activities on knowledge of and respect for Human Rights;
   14. The others assigned to him by the Constitution or the Law.

   The Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights may have departmental and local delegates of a permanent character.

2. It corresponds to the Procurator General of the Republic:
   1. To keep watch for the defense of the family and interests of minors and others who are incapable;
   2. To provide legal assistance to persons of limited economic resources and to represent them judicially in defending their individual liberty and labor rights;
   3. To appoint, remove, grant leave to, and accept the resignations of the Auxiliary Procurators of all the Tribunals of the Republic, of Labor Procurators, and of other functionaries and employees of their dependencies;
   4. To exercise the other powers established by law.

CHAPTER V. COURT OF ACCOUNTS OF THE REPUBLIC

Article 195

The audit of the Public Treasury (Hacienda Pública) in general and of the execution of the Budget in particular shall be entrusted to an independent organism of the Executive Organ, to be known as the Court of Accounts of the Republic, and which shall have the following powers:

1. To watch over the collection, custody, commitment and distribution of public funds; as well as the liquidation of taxes, rates, rights and other contributions when the law so determines;
2. To authorize every withdrawal of funds from the Public Treasury (Tesoro Público), in conformity with the Budget; to intervene for preventive purposes in any act that in a direct or indirect manner affects the Public Treasury or the patrimony of the State, and to authenticate acts and contracts relating to the public debt;
3. To supervise, inspect, and audit the accounts of the functionaries and employees which administer or manage public funds or property (bienes), and to try cases arising from such accounts;
4. To supervise the economical management of autonomous state institutions and businesses, and entities supported by funds or that receive subventions or subsidies from the Public Treasury. Such supervision shall be adapted to the nature and purposes of the organization concerned, in accordance with that determined by the law in this respect;
5. To examine the account submitted by the Executive Organ to the Assembly on the management of the Public Treasury, and to report to the same the result of such examination;
6. To prepare the regulations necessary for the fulfillment of its powers;
7. To inform the President of the Republic, the Legislative Assembly, and the other respective hierarchical superiors, in writing of the proven relevant irregularities of every public official in the management of property and funds subject to audit;
8. To ensure that the debts to the State and Municipalities are made effective;
9. To perform the other functions prescribed by law.

The 2nd and 4th powers shall be carried out in a manner suitable to the nature and purpose of the concerned organ, according to that which the law determines in this respect; and it may act prior to a request of the supervised organ, of the body superior to it, or of office when it considers it necessary.

Article 196

To carry out its jurisdictional functions, the Court of Accounts of the Republic shall be divided into one Chamber of Second Instance and the Chambers of First Instance established by law.

The Chamber of Second Instance shall be composed of the President of the Court and two Magistrates, whose number may be increased by law.

These functionaries shall be elected for a term of three years, may be re-elected, and may not be removed from office except for just cause, by a resolution of the Legislative Assembly. The Chamber of Second Instance shall appoint, remove, grant leaves to, and accept resignations from the Judges of the Chambers of First Instance.

A special law shall regulate the administrative functioning, jurisdiction, competence, and order of the Court of Accounts and its Chambers.

Article 197

Whenever an act submitted to the cognizance of the Court of Accounts of the Republic in its opinion violates any law or regulation in force, it must so advise the functionaries who in the exercise of their legal functions communicated the act (se lo comuniquen), and the act in question shall remain in suspension.

The Executive Organ may ratify the act in whole or in part, provided it considers it legal, by means of a reasoned resolution, made in the Council of Ministers and communicated in writing to the President of the Court. This resolution must be published in the Official Gazette.

The ratification duly made known, will terminate the suspension of the act, provided the observations of the Court of Accounts are not based on the lack or insufficiency of a budgetary credit to which an expenditure is to be charged, since in such cases, the suspension must be maintained until the deficiency of credit has been filled.

Article 198

The President and Magistrates of the Court of Accounts must be Salvadorans by birth, over thirty years of age, and of well-known integrity and competence; they must be in the exercise of their rights of citizenship, having been so for three years immediately preceding their election.

Article 199

The President of the Court of Accounts shall submit annually to the Legislative Assembly a detailed and documented report of the work of the Court. This duty must be carried out within three months after the end of the fiscal year.

The unfulfillment of this duty shall be considered as just cause for dismissal.

CHAPTER VI. LOCAL GOVERNMENT

FIRST SECTION. JURISDICTION OF GOVERNORS (GOBERNACIONES

Article 200

The territory of the Republic is divided into departments for political administration, the number and boundaries of which shall be fixed by law. In each of them there shall be a proprietary and substitute Governor, appointed by the Executive Organ, whose powers shall be determined by law.

Article 201

To be a Governor it is required: to be a Salvadoran, a layman, over twenty-five years of age, to be in exercise of the rights of citizenship, having been so for three years immediately preceding appointment, to be of well-known morality and education, and to be a native or resident of the respective department; in the latter case, two years of residence immediately preceding appointment is necessary.

SECOND SECTION. THE MUNICIPALITIES

Article 202

For the Local Government, the departments are divided into Municipalities, which are governed by Councils, consisting of a Mayor, a Syndic (Síndico), and two or more Aldermen (Regidores), the number of whom shall be in proportion to the population.

The Members of the Municipal Councils must be over twenty-one years of age and natives or residents of the municipality; they shall be elected for a period of three years, may be re-elected, and their further qualifications shall be determined by law.

Article 203

The Municipalities shall be autonomous in the exercise of their economic, technical, and administrative functions; and shall be governed by a Municipal Code which shall set down the general principles for the organization, functioning, and exercise of their autonomous powers.

The Municipalities shall be obligated to collaborate with other public institutions in plans for national or regional development.

Article 204

The Autonomy of the Municipality includes [the power]:

1. To create, modify and suppress public taxes and contributions for the realization of particular works within the limits established by a general law.Once taxes or contributions are approved by the Municipal Council the respective agreement shall be published in the Official Gazette, and eight days after its publication, its observance shall be mandatory;
2. To declare its Budget of Revenues and Expenditures;
3. To freely carry out matters within its competency;
4. To appoint and remove functionaries and employees from their branch offices (dependencias);
5. To enact local ordinances and regulations;
6. To elaborate their tax rates and reforms, so as to propose them as law to the Legislative Assembly.

Article 205

No law nor authority may exempt itself or dispense with the payment of municipal taxes and contributions.

Article 206

The plans of local development must be approved by the respective Municipal Council; and the Institutions of the State must collaborate with the Municipality in their development.

Article 207

Municipal funds may not be centralized in the General Fund of State, nor may they be utilized except in services and for the benefit of the Municipalities.

The Municipalities may associate or form amongst themselves cooperative agreements for the purpose of carrying out works or services that are of common interest to two or more Municipalities.

To guarantee the development and the economic autonomy of the Municipalities, a fund for their economic and social development shall be created. A law shall establish the amount of such fund and the mechanisms for its use.

The Municipal Councils will administer the patrimony of their Municipalities and will render a detailed and documented account of their administration to the Court of Accounts of the Republic.

The execution of the Budget will be audited a posteriori by the Court of Accounts of the Republic, as prescribed by law.

CHAPTER VII. SUPREME ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL

Article 208

There shall be a Supreme Electoral Tribunal which shall consist of five Magistrates, who shall last five years in their functions and who shall be elected by the Legislative Assembly. Three of them from each of the lists of three candidates (ternas) proposed by the three political parties or legal coalitions that obtained the greatest number of votes in the last presidential election. The two remaining Magistrates shall be elected with the favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the elected Deputies, from two lists of three candidates proposed by the Supreme Court of Justice, who must meet the requirements to be Judges of the Chambers of Second Instance and have no party affiliation.

There shall be five substitute Magistrates elected in a similar manner to the officeholders. If because of any circumstance no list of three nominees is proposed, the Legislative Assembly shall hold the respective election without the missing list.

The Magistrate President shall be proposed by the party or legal coalition which obtained the greatest number of votes in the last presidential election.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall be the highest authority on this subject, without prejudice to the recourses established by this Constitution concerning its violation.

Article 209

The law shall establish the organs (organismos) necessary to receive, recount, and certify votes and other activities concerning suffrage and shall take care that they are integrated in such a way that no party or coalition of parties predominates within them.

Political parties or contending coalitions shall have the right to maintain vigil over the entire electoral process.

Article 210

The State recognizes political debt as a mechanism for financing contending political parties, which seeks to provide them with their freedom and independence. The secondary law shall regulate that referring to this matter.

CHAPTER VIII. ARMED FORCES

Article 211

The Armed Force is a permanent Institution in the Service of the Nation. It is obedient, professional, apolitical, and non-deliberative.

Article 212

The mission of the Armed Force is to defend the State’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The President of the Republic may exceptionally order the Armed Force to maintain internal peace, in accordance with that provided by this Constitution.

The fundamental organs of the Government mentioned in Article 86 may order the Armed Force to make effective the provisions which they have adopted, within their respective constitutional areas of authority, to carry out (hacer cumplir) this Constitution.

The Armed Force shall collaborate in works of public benefit which are entrusted to it by the Executive Organ and shall assist the population in cases of national disaster.

Article 213

The Armed Force forms a part of the Executive Organ and is subordinate to the authority of the President of the Republic in his capacity as Commander-General. Its structure, juridical regime, doctrine, composition, and functioning are defined by the law, the regulations and special provisions which the President of the Republic adopts.

Article 214

The military career is professional and the only military ranks recognized are those obtained by strict seniority (escala) and in conformity with the law.

Military employees (militares) may not be deprived of their rank, honors, and loans, except in the cases determined by law.

Article 215

Military service is compulsory for all Salvadorans between eighteen and thirty years old.

In the event of necessity, all Salvadorans capable of performing military tasks shall be soldiers.

A special law shall regulate this matter.

Article 216

Military jurisdiction is established. For the trial of crimes and misdeeds (faltas) which are purely military there shall be special procedures and tribunals in conformity with the law. As an exceptional regime with respect to unity of justice, military jurisdiction shall be reduced to cognizance of purely military crimes and misdeeds in service, being understood as such those which exclusively affect a strictly military juridical interest.

Members of the Armed Force in active service enjoy the right of military jurisdiction for purely military crimes and misdeeds.

Article 217

The fabrication, importation, exportation, trade, possession and bearing of arms, munitions, explosives and similar articles may only be effected with the authorization of and under the direct supervision of the Executive Organ, in the Branch of Defense (Ramo de Defensa).

A special law shall regulate this subject.