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El Salvador The Legislature
The legislature is a unicameral body known as the Legislative
Assembly. Its members are referred to as deputies
(diputados). They are elected every three years according
to a system of proportional representation. The assembly elected
in March 1988 was composed of sixty deputies and sixty alternates
(suplentes).
There is no restriction on the reelection of deputies. To
serve in this capacity, however, one must be a Salvadoran by
birth and over twenty-one years of age. Those prohibited from
seeking election to the assembly include the president and vice
president of the republic, government ministers and vice
ministers, active-duty military personnel, and relatives of the
president within the fourth level of consanguinity or the second
level of affinity. Elected deputies, however, may serve as
ministers or vice ministers, heads of official autonomous
institutions, or chiefs of diplomatic missions. Such individuals
do not participate in the business of the assembly but may be
reintegrated into that body at the conclusion of their service in
such a post.
The powers of the Legislative Assembly are considerable. It
is the body that determines the statutory laws of El Salvador. It
has the power to levy taxes, to ratify or reject treaties
negotiated by the executive branch with foreign governments or
international organizations, and to regulate the civil service.
The assembly also wields the power of the purse as the body that
approves the national budget in its final form. Perhaps just as
important in a political sense is the assembly's power to place
individuals, through a majority vote, in the following posts:
president (chief justice) and magistrates of the Supreme Court,
president of the Central Electoral Council, president and
magistrates of an independent government auditing body known as
the Court of Accounts (Corte de Cuentas), the attorney general,
and the procurator general. By naming to these positions members
of parties or factions opposed to the president, the Legislative
Assembly can (and has, in some instances) impede the workings of
government to a significant degree. The assembly also has the
power to declare war, ratify peace treaties, and grant amnesty
for political offenses or common crimes.
Legislation may be introduced not only by deputies but also
by the president, by way of his ministers; the Supreme Court, in
the case of laws pertaining to the judiciary; and local municipal
councils, with regard to municipal taxation. A presidential veto
of a law passed by the Legislative Assembly may be overridden by
a two-thirds vote of that body. The executive may raise
objections to a law on constitutional grounds; in such a case,
the Supreme Court serves as the arbiter. If a law submitted to
the Supreme court by the president is ruled to be constitutional,
the president is compelled to sign it into law.
Data as of November 1988
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