President Hipolito Mejia said yesterday on the El Dia TV morning show on Channel 11 that he will include in the constitutional reform bill a provision that would ban anyone who has already been president of the country from running for office again. Costa Rica has a law like this. If applied retroactively, it would impede former President Leonel Fernandez (PLD 1996-2000) from running for office again. Fernandez is considered the PRD’s strongest opponent in the 2004 election. No other former president is considered a candidate with a chance of winning the 2004 election. The PLD, as reported in El Caribe, called the proposal a new form of political persecution against the former statesman. Johnny Jones, political secretary of the PRSC, the other main party, speculates in El Siglo, “We all know that Fernandez is a strong candidate, that he is gaining in the public’s favor every day, but I do not believe a bill of this nature would stop him. What they want to do is introduce in the Constitution Revision Assembly the re-election topic, because they would not be able to touch it in any other way.” Jones favors changing the Constitution so that it allows reelection for two consecutive periods, as in the US. Afterwards, a former president would not be able to run again. President Mejia said that his bill would also reduce the percentage of votes needed to win the first round to 45%, down from 50%+1 as it is now. He said his bill would incorporate recommendations made by the Presidential Commission appointed to this end. The constitutional reform bill would be sent to Congress Monday.
