A bit of legal carelessness has placed Hipolito Mejia?s bid for re-election in serious difficulty. The Constitutional reform law of 2002, which re-incorporated the possibility of re-election into the country?s legal framework, has not been formally published in the Official Gazette. This oversight, of huge legal import, is attributed by reporter Kleiner Lopez of the Diario Libre to the former legal advisor to the President, Guido Gomez Mazara, whose responsibility it was to see that the publication took place. There are 35 Official Gazettes from 2002 pending publication, including the one that contains the modification to Articles 49 and 89 of the Constitution, concerning closed electoral boards and the revocation of the prohibition on Presidential re-election. According to Article 42 of the Constitution, laws become obligatory for all inhabitants of the country upon publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of nationwide circulation. The Constitution is not exempt from this requirement. Does this affect the aspirations of Mejia? In the opinion of some lawyers, it does. Mario Read Vittini and Frank R Fermin Ramirez think Mejia?s status as the PRD candidate should be invalidated, but the legal council of the Chamber of Deputies thinks the Supreme Court is the only authorized voice in this matter. According to Fermin Ramirez, Article 41 of the Constitution says that all laws passed by Congress must be sent to the Executive Branch for publication or ?observation? (similar to a veto). If there are no observations, the announcement of the law must be done within eight days of its receipt, and publication must be within 15 days of the announcement. The article says the President is obliged to announce and publish the laws. If this is strictly interpreted, says the lawyer, the candidacy of President Mejia is null and void. An interesting note to the article is that the Constitution has been modified on 37 occasions, of which 26 amendments had to do with the legality, or illegality, of Presidential re-election.