Constitution of Paraguay
Encyclopedia
The Republic of Paraguay
is governed under the constitution
of 1992, which is the country's sixth since independence from Spain
in 1811.
to the Río de la Plata
estuary, which divides Argentina
and Uruguay
. After further voyages of conquest, Paraguay became another of Spain's
South American colonies. Paraguay finally gained its independence from Spain in 1811.
two years after its independence from Spain in October 1813. The Constitutional Governmental Regulations contained seventeen articles, providing for a government by headed by two consuls
, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
and Fulgencio Yegros
. The framers also provided for a legislature
of 1,000 representatives. Recognizing the importance of the military in the embattled country, the framers gave each consul the rank of brigadier general and divided the armed forces and arsenals equally between them. However within ten years of adoption the Constitutional Governmental Regulations, both Consul Yegros and the Paraguayan legislature had been eliminated and Francia ruled directly until his death in 1840.
(1865–70), a Constituent assembly
adopted a new constitution in November 1870, which, with amendments, remained in force for seventy years. The constitution was based on principles of popular sovereignty
, separation of powers
, and a bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate
and a Chamber of Representatives. Although its tenor was more democratic than the two previous constitutions, extensive power over the government and society in general remained in the hands of the President.
responded to a political stalemate by dissolving Congress and declared himself absolute dictator
. To dramatize his government's desire for change, he scrapped the constitution and promulgated a new one in July 1940. This constitution reflected Estigarribia's concern for stability and power and thus provided for an extremely powerful state and executive. The President, who was chosen in direct elections for a term of five years with reelection permitted for one additional term; the President could intervene in the economy, control the press, suppress private groups, suspend individual liberties, and take exceptional actions for the good of the state. The Senate was abolished and the Chamber of Representatives limited in power. A new advisory Council of State was created, modeled on the experience of corporatist Italy and Portugal, to represent group interests including business, farmers, bankers, the military, and the Roman Catholic Church
. The military was responsible for safeguarding the Constitution.
governed for the next thirteen years under the constitution of 1940. A Constituent Assembly elected
in 1967 maintained the overall framework of the constitution of 1940 and left intact the broad scope of executive power. Nevertheless, it reinstated the Senate and renamed the lower house the Chamber of Deputies
. In addition, the assembly allowed the president to be reelected for another two terms beginning in 1968.
The constitution of 1967 contained a preamble
, eleven chapters with 231 articles, and a final chapter of transitory provisions. The first chapter contains eleven "fundamental statements" defining a wide variety of topics, including the political system (a unitary republic with a representative democratic government
), the official languages (Spanish
and Guaraní
), and the official religion of Roman Catholicism. The next two chapters dealt with territory, civil divisions, nationality, and citizenship. Chapter four contained a number of general provisions, such as statements prohibiting the use of dictatorial powers, requiring public officials to act in accordance with the constitution, and entrusted national defense and public order to the armed forces and police, respectively.
Chapter five, with seventy-nine articles, was by far the longest section of the constitution, and deals in considerable detail with the rights of the population. This chapter purportedly guaranteed the population extensive liberty and freedom before the law without discrimination. In addition to the comprehensive individual rights, spelled out in thirty-three articles, there are sections covering social, economic, labor, and political rights. For example, Article 111 stipulates that "The suffrage is the right, duty, and public function of the voter... Its exercise will be obligatory within the limits to be established by law, and nobody could advocate or recommend electoral abstention." The formation of political parties was also guaranteed, although parties advocating the destruction of the republican regime or the multiparty representative democratic system are not permitted. This chapter also specified five obligations of citizens, including obedience to the constitution and laws, defense of the country, and employment in legal activities.
Chapter six identified agrarian reform
as one of the fundamental factors for the achievement of rural well-being. It also called for the adoption of equitable systems of land distribution and ownership. Colonization was protected as an official program involving not only citizens but also foreigners.
Chapters seven through ten concerned the composition, selection, and functions of the legislature
, executive
, judiciary
, and attorney general
, respectively. Chapter eleven discussed provisions for amending or rewriting the constitution. The final chapter contained transitory articles, the most important of which states that for purposes of eligibility and re-eligibility of the president, only those terms that would be completed after the presidential term due to expire on August 15, 1968. The only constitutional amendment, that of March 25, 1977, modified this article to allow the president to succeed himself without limit.
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
is governed under the constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
of 1992, which is the country's sixth since independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1811.
Independence
The recorded history of Paraguay began in 1516 with the failed expedition of Juan Díaz de SolísJuan Díaz de Solís
Juan Díaz de Solís was a Spanish navigator and explorer.Díaz de Solís was probably born in Lebrija, Seville, although some other authors argue that his birth may have actually taken place in Portugal to an Andalusian emigree family....
to the Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
estuary, which divides Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. After further voyages of conquest, Paraguay became another of Spain's
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
South American colonies. Paraguay finally gained its independence from Spain in 1811.
Constitutional Governmental Regulations of 1813
The Constitutional Governmental Regulations, approved by the Congress of ParaguayCongress of Paraguay
Paraguay's bicameral Congress consists of a 45-member Senate and an80-member Chamber of Deputies. It serves as the legislative branch of the Paraguayan state....
two years after its independence from Spain in October 1813. The Constitutional Governmental Regulations contained seventeen articles, providing for a government by headed by two consuls
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
200px|right|thumb|José Gaspar Rodríguez de FranciaDr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco was the first leader of Paraguay following its independence from Spain...
and Fulgencio Yegros
Fulgencio Yegros
Fulgencio Yegros y Franco de Torres was Paraguayan soldier and first head of state of independent Paraguay.Yegros was born to a family of military tradition and also pursued a military career. He studied in Asunción and joined the army...
. The framers also provided for a legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
of 1,000 representatives. Recognizing the importance of the military in the embattled country, the framers gave each consul the rank of brigadier general and divided the armed forces and arsenals equally between them. However within ten years of adoption the Constitutional Governmental Regulations, both Consul Yegros and the Paraguayan legislature had been eliminated and Francia ruled directly until his death in 1840.
Constitution of 1844
In 1841 Francia's successor, Carlos Antonio López, asked the legislature to revise the Constitutional Governmental Regulations. Three years later, a new constitution granted powers to López as broad as those which Francia had used to governe. Congress could make and interpret the laws, but only the President could order that they be promulgated and enforced. The constitution placed no restrictions on the powers of the president, beyond limiting his term of office to ten years. The constitution also included no guarantee of civil rights; indeed, there was no mention of the word liberty in the entire text. Despite this limitation, Congress subsequently named López dictator for life. He died in 1862 after twenty-one years of unchallenged rule.Constitution of 1870
At the end of the disastrous War of the Triple AllianceWar of the Triple Alliance
The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...
(1865–70), a Constituent assembly
Constituent assembly
A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...
adopted a new constitution in November 1870, which, with amendments, remained in force for seventy years. The constitution was based on principles of popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the political principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with Republicanism and the social contract...
, separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
, and a bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate
Senate of Paraguay
The Chamber of Senators of Paraguay , the upper house of the National Congress, has 45 members, elected for a five year term by proportional representation.-See also:*List of Presidents of the Senate of Paraguay...
and a Chamber of Representatives. Although its tenor was more democratic than the two previous constitutions, extensive power over the government and society in general remained in the hands of the President.
Constitution of 1940
In 1939 President José Felix EstigarribiaJosé Félix Estigarribia
Marshal José Félix Estigarribia Insaurralde was a decorated Paraguayan war hero and President of Paraguay for the Liberal party. Educated as an agronomist, he joined the national Army in 1910 and spent time in Chile and in Saint Cyr's military academy in France for additional training...
responded to a political stalemate by dissolving Congress and declared himself absolute dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
. To dramatize his government's desire for change, he scrapped the constitution and promulgated a new one in July 1940. This constitution reflected Estigarribia's concern for stability and power and thus provided for an extremely powerful state and executive. The President, who was chosen in direct elections for a term of five years with reelection permitted for one additional term; the President could intervene in the economy, control the press, suppress private groups, suspend individual liberties, and take exceptional actions for the good of the state. The Senate was abolished and the Chamber of Representatives limited in power. A new advisory Council of State was created, modeled on the experience of corporatist Italy and Portugal, to represent group interests including business, farmers, bankers, the military, and the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. The military was responsible for safeguarding the Constitution.
Constitution of 1967
After taking power in 1954, President Alfredo StroessnerAlfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda, whose name is also spelled Strössner or Strößner , was a Paraguayan military officer and dictator from 1954 to 1989...
governed for the next thirteen years under the constitution of 1940. A Constituent Assembly elected
Paraguayan Constitutional Assembly election, 1967
Constitutional Assembly elections were held in Paraguay on 7 May 1967. The Colorado Party won 80 of the 120 seats. Voter turnout was 68.9%. Following the election, the country's fifth constitution was promulgated in August. The new constitution allowed President Alfonso Stroessner to run for two...
in 1967 maintained the overall framework of the constitution of 1940 and left intact the broad scope of executive power. Nevertheless, it reinstated the Senate and renamed the lower house the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Paraguay's bicameral legislature, the National Congress. It is made up of 80 members, elected for a five year term by proportional representation. The other chamber of the National Congress is the Chamber of Senators .- External links :*...
. In addition, the assembly allowed the president to be reelected for another two terms beginning in 1968.
The constitution of 1967 contained a preamble
Preamble
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subject of the statute...
, eleven chapters with 231 articles, and a final chapter of transitory provisions. The first chapter contains eleven "fundamental statements" defining a wide variety of topics, including the political system (a unitary republic with a representative democratic government
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
), the official languages (Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Guaraní
Guaraní language
Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí–Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and half of...
), and the official religion of Roman Catholicism. The next two chapters dealt with territory, civil divisions, nationality, and citizenship. Chapter four contained a number of general provisions, such as statements prohibiting the use of dictatorial powers, requiring public officials to act in accordance with the constitution, and entrusted national defense and public order to the armed forces and police, respectively.
Chapter five, with seventy-nine articles, was by far the longest section of the constitution, and deals in considerable detail with the rights of the population. This chapter purportedly guaranteed the population extensive liberty and freedom before the law without discrimination. In addition to the comprehensive individual rights, spelled out in thirty-three articles, there are sections covering social, economic, labor, and political rights. For example, Article 111 stipulates that "The suffrage is the right, duty, and public function of the voter... Its exercise will be obligatory within the limits to be established by law, and nobody could advocate or recommend electoral abstention." The formation of political parties was also guaranteed, although parties advocating the destruction of the republican regime or the multiparty representative democratic system are not permitted. This chapter also specified five obligations of citizens, including obedience to the constitution and laws, defense of the country, and employment in legal activities.
Chapter six identified agrarian reform
Agrarian reform
Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land reform measures. Agrarian reform can include credit measures,...
as one of the fundamental factors for the achievement of rural well-being. It also called for the adoption of equitable systems of land distribution and ownership. Colonization was protected as an official program involving not only citizens but also foreigners.
Chapters seven through ten concerned the composition, selection, and functions of the legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
, judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
, and attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, respectively. Chapter eleven discussed provisions for amending or rewriting the constitution. The final chapter contained transitory articles, the most important of which states that for purposes of eligibility and re-eligibility of the president, only those terms that would be completed after the presidential term due to expire on August 15, 1968. The only constitutional amendment, that of March 25, 1977, modified this article to allow the president to succeed himself without limit.
Constitution of 1992
The democratic Constitution of 1992 replaced the highly authoritarian Constitution in force since 1967. The Constitution of 1992 provides for a division of government powers among three branches.See also
- ConstitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
- Constitutional lawConstitutional lawConstitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
- Constitutional economicsConstitutional economicsConstitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as extending beyond the definition of 'the economic analysis of constitutional law' in explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the...
- ConstitutionalismConstitutionalismConstitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law"....