Paraguay 1992 Constitution (reviewed 2011)

Chapter IV. Of the Territorial Order of the Republic

Section I. Of the General Provisions

Article 155. Of the Territory, of Sovereignty, and of Inalienability

The national territory may never be yielded, transferred, leased, or alienated in any way, even temporarily, to any foreign power [potencia]. The States maintaining diplomatic relations with the Republic, as well as the international organs of which it is a part, may only acquire the necessary estates [inmuebles] for the seat [sede] of their representations, in accordance with the prescriptions of the law. In these cases, the national sovereignty over the ground will always be safe.

Article 156. Of the Political and Administrative Structure

For the purpose of the political and administrative structuring of the State, the national territory is divided into departments, municipalities and districts, which, within the limits of this Constitution and of the laws, enjoy political, administrative and normative autonomy for the administration [gestión] of their interests, and of autarchy in the collection [recaudación] and investment of their resources.

Article 157. Of the Capital

The City of Asunción is the capital of the Republic and seat to the powers of the State. It is constituted as a Municipality, and is independent from all Departments. The law will establish its limits.

Article 158. Of the National Services

The creation and the functioning of services of national character in the jurisdiction of the departments and of the municipalities will be authorized by the law.

They may be established equally departmental services, through agreements between the respective departments and municipalities.

Article 159. Of the Departments and Municipalities

The creation, the fusion, or the modification of the departments and their capitals, the municipalities and the districts, in such case, will be determined by the law, attending to the socioeconomic, demographic, ecological, cultural and historical conditions of the same.

Article 160. Of the Regions

The departments may be grouped in regions, for the better development of their respective communities. Their constitution and their functioning will be regulated by the law.

Section II. Of the Departments

Article 161. Of the Departmental Government

The government of each department will be exercised by a governor and by departmental board [junta]. They will be elected by direct vote of the citizens residing in the respective departments, in elections [comicios] coincident with the general elections, and they will remain five years in their functions.

The governor represents the Executive Power in the execution of the national policy. He may not be reelected.

The law will determine the composition and the functions of the departmental boards [juntas].

Article 162. Of the Requirements

To be governor it is required:

1. to be a natural Paraguayan;
2. to be already thirty years of age, and
3. to be [a] native of the department and with residence in the same for at least one year. In the case that the candidate is not a native [oriundo] of the department, he must have resided in it for at least five years. Both time periods will be counted immediately before the elections.
4. The inabilities for candidates to governor will be the same as those for President and Vice-President of the Republic.

The same requirements as for the office [cargo] of governor rule [rigen] to be [a] member of the departmental board [junta]; except for the age, which must be that of already twenty-five years of age.

Article 163. Of Competence

[The following] are of the competence of the departmental government:

1. to coordinate their activities with those of the different municipalities of the department; to organize the common departmental services, such as public works, power [and] potable water supply and others that would affect jointly more than one Municipality, as well as to promote the associations of cooperation among them;
2. to prepare [preparar] the departmental development plan, which must be coordinated with the National Development Plan, and to prepare [elaborar] the annual budgetary formulation, to be considered in the General Budget of the Nation;
3. to coordinate the departmental action with the activities of the central government, especially [concerning] that related to the offices of national character of the department, primarily in the area of health and in that of education;
4. to provide for the integration of the Councils of Departmental Development, and
5. the other competences established by this Constitution and the law.

Article 164. Of the Resources

The resources of the departmental administration are [the following]:

1. the corresponding portion of taxes, rates and contributions defined and regulated by this Constitution and by the law;
2. The allocations [asignaciones] or subsidies that the national Government assigned to them;
3. The proprietary [propias] income [rentas] determined by the law, as well as the donations and the legacies, and
4. the other resources established by the law.

Article 165. Of the Intervention

The Executive Power can intervene in the departments and the municipalities, with the prior agreement of the Chamber of Deputies, in the following cases:

1. at the request of the board of the department or of the municipality, by decision of an absolute majority;
2. because of the disintegration of the board of the department or of the municipality that makes its functioning impossible, and
3. because of grave irregularity in the execution of the budget or in the administration of its assets, after resolution [dictamen] of the Comptroller General of the Republic.

The intervention will not be prolonged for more than ninety days, and if the result of it was the existence of the case specified in paragraph 3), the Chamber of Deputies, by an absolute majority, may dismiss the governor or the mayor [intendente], or the board of the department or of the municipality[;] the Superior Electoral Tribunal must convoke new elections to constitute the authorities that will replace the ones that have ceased their functions, within the ninety days following the resolution dictated by the Chamber of Deputies.

Section III. Of the Municipalities

Article 166. Of the Autonomy

The municipalities are the local government organs with juridical personality [personería juridica] that, within their competence, have political, administrative and normative autonomy, as well as autarchy in the collection and investing of their resources.

Article 167. Of the Municipal Government

The government of the municipalities will be the responsibility of a mayor and of a municipal board, which will be elected by direct suffrage by the legally qualified [habilitadas] persons.

Article 168. Of the Attributions

The attributions of the municipalities, in their territorial jurisdiction and in accordance with the law are:

1. the free administration [gestión] in the matters of their competence, particularly in those of urbanism, environment, food supplies [abasto] education, culture, sports, tourism, sanitary and social assistance, institutions of credit, bodies [cuerpos] of inspection and of police;
2. the administration and the disposition of their assets;
3. the elaboration of their budgets of income and expenses;
4. the participation in the national income [rentas]
5. the regulation of the amount of the retributive rates of services effectively provided [prestados], which may not exceed their cost;
6. The issuance [dictado] of ordinances, regulations and resolutions;
7. the access to private credit and to public credit, national and international;
8. the regulation and the fiscal control of traffic, of the public transportation and that of other matters relative to the circulation of vehicles, and
9. the other attributions established by this Constitution and the law.

Article 169. Of Real Estate Tax [Impuesto Inmobiliario]

The totality of the tax revenues from real estate property in a direct form will correspond to the municipalities and to the departments. Its collection will be competence of the municipalities. Seventy percent of the [amount] collected by each municipality will remain as its property [propiedad], fifteen percent in that of the respective department and the remaining fifteen percent will be distributed among the municipalities of less resources, in accordance with the law.

Article 170. Of the Protection of Resources

No institution of the State, autonomous entity, autarchic or decentralized[,] may appropriate income or revenues from the municipalities.

Article 171. Of the Categories and of the Regimes

The law will establish the different categories and regimes of municipalities, attending to [atendiendo] the conditions of population, of economic development, of geographical, ecological, cultural [and] historical situation and to other determinant factors of its development.

The municipalities may associate with each other to face commonly the realization of their goals [fines] and, through law, with municipalities from other countries.