|
Nicaragua The Executive
The constitution provides for a strong executive
branch,
although the legislative and judicial branches retain
significant
powers of their own. Under the constitution, the president
has
broader powers than does the president of the United
States. The
president is commander in chief of the military, has the
power to
appoint all ministers and vice ministers of his or her
cabinet,
and proposes a national budget. The executive shares
legislative
powers that allow him or her to enact executive decrees
with the
force of law in fiscal and administrative matters, as well
as to
promulgate regulations to implement the laws. The
president
assumes legislative powers when the National Assembly is
in
recess. He or she has extraordinary powers during national
emergencies, including the powers to suspend basic civil
liberties and to prepare and approve the national budget.
The president's term was set at six years by a decree
promulgated in January 1984, during the period when the
country
had no constitution. Elections held under that decree
resulted in
Daniel José Ortega Saavedra's beginning a term as
president on
January 10, 1985. The 1987 Constitution reaffirmed a
six-year
term for the president. Esquipulas II, the international
peace
accord that ended the Contra insurgency, however, set
February
25, 1990 as the date for the next election. Violeta
Chamorro
assumed the post of president on April 25, 1990, more than
eight
months before the constitutionally mandated date of
January 10,
1991. It was understood that Chamorro would serve for the
additional eight-month period created by the advanced
elections,
as well as for the full six-year term from January 10,
1991 to
January 10, 1997. The next elections are scheduled for
late 1996,
although pressure has been mounting for these elections,
to be
advanced also.
Data as of December 1993
|
