CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF EL SALVADOR [English Version]
El Salvador 1983 (rev. 2003)
DECREE NUMBER 38
We, representatives of the Salvadoran people gathered in a Constituent Assembly, placing our trust in God, our will in the high destinies of the Homeland and exercising the sovereign power that the people of El Salvador have conferred on us, animated by the fervent desire to establish the foundations of coexistence. based on respect for the dignity of the human person, on the construction of a more just society, the essence of democracy and the spirit of freedom and justice, values of our humanist heritage.
We decree, sanction and proclaim the following Constitution:
TITLE I
SINGLE CHAPTER
THE HUMAN PERSON AND THE PURPOSES OF THE STATE
ARTICLE 1.- El Salvador recognizes the human person as the origin and end of the activity of the State, which is organized for the achievement of justice, legal security and the common good.
Consequently, it is the obligation of the State to ensure to the inhabitants of the Republic, the enjoyment of freedom, health, culture, economic well-being and social justice.
TITLE II
THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND GUARANTEES OF THE PERSON
CHAPTER I
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND THEIR EXCEPTION REGIME
SECTION ONE
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
ARTICLE 2.- Every person has the right to life, physical and moral integrity, liberty, security, work, property and possession, and to be protected in the conservation and defense thereof.
The right to honor, personal and family privacy and self-image is guaranteed.
Compensation is established, in accordance with the law, for damages of a moral nature.
ARTICLE 3.- All persons are equal before the law. For the enjoyment of civil rights, no restrictions may be established based on differences of nationality, race, sex or religion.
No hereditary jobs or privileges are recognized.
ARTICLE 4.- Every person is free in the Republic.
He who enters its territory will not be a slave, nor a citizen who traffics with slaves. No one can be subjected to servitude not to any other condition that undermines his dignity.
ARTICLE 5.- Every person is free to enter, to remain in the territory of the Republic and to leave it, except for the limitations established by law.
No one can be forced to change their domicile or residence, except by mandate of a judicial authority, in special cases and by means of the requirements established by law.
No Salvadoran may be expatriated, or be prohibited from entering the territory of the Republic, or given a passport for their return or other identification documents. Neither may he be prohibited from leaving the territory except by resolution or sentence of a competent authority issued in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 6.- Every person can freely express and disseminate their thoughts as long as they do not subvert public order, or injure morality, honor, or the private life of others. The exercise of this right will not be subject to prior examination, censorship or bond; but those who, by making use of it, violate the laws, will be liable for the crime they commit.
In no case may the printing, its accessories or any other means intended for the dissemination of thought be seized as an instrument of crime.
Companies that engage in written, broadcast or televised communication, and other publishing companies, may not be subject to nationalization or nationalization, either by expropriation or any other procedure. This prohibition is applicable to the shares or social quotas of their owners.
The aforementioned companies may not establish different rates or make any other type of discrimination due to the political or religious nature of what is published.
The right of reply is recognized as a protection of the fundamental rights and guarantees of the person.
Public shows may be subject to censorship in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 7.- The inhabitants of El Salvador have the right to freely associate and assemble peacefully and without arms for any lawful purpose. No one may be forced to belong to an association.
A person may not be limited or prevented from exercising any lawful activity, due to the fact that they do not belong to an association.
The existence of armed groups of a political, religious or union nature is prohibited.
ARTICLE 8.- No one is obliged to do what the law does not order to deprive himself of what it does not prohibit.
ARTICLE 9.- No one may be forced to perform work or provide personal services without just compensation and without their full consent, except in cases of public calamity and in other cases indicated by law.
ARTICLE 10.- The law cannot authorize any act or contract that implies the loss or irreparable sacrifice of the freedom or dignity of the person. Nor can it authorize agreements in which proscription or banishment is agreed.
ARTICLE 11.- No person may be deprived of the right to life, liberty, property and possession, or any other of their rights without being previously heard and defeated in court in accordance with the laws; nor can it be tried twice for the same cause.
Everyone has the right to habeas corpus when any authority or individual illegally restricts their freedom.
ARTICLE 12.- Any person charged with a crime shall be presumed innocent as long as his guilt is not proven in accordance with the law and in a public trial, in which all the necessary guarantees for his defense are assured.
The detained person must be informed immediately and understandably of their rights and the reasons for their arrest, and cannot be forced to make a statement. The detainee is guaranteed the assistance of a defender in the proceedings of the auxiliary bodies of the administration of justice and in the judicial processes, in the terms established by law.
Statements obtained without the will of the person are of no value; Whoever obtains and employs them will incur criminal liability.
ARTICLE 13.- No governmental body, authority or official may issue arrest or detention orders if it is not in accordance with the law, and these orders must always be written. When a criminal is caught in the act, he can be detained by anyone, to be handed over immediately to the competent authority.
The administrative detention will not exceed seventy-two hours, within which the detainee must be consigned to the order of the competent judge, with the procedures that he has practiced.
The detention to inquire will not exceed seventy-two hours and the corresponding court will be obliged to notify the detainee, receive his inquiry and order his release or provisional detention, within said term.
For reasons of social defense, individuals who, due to their antisocial, immoral or harmful activity, reveal a dangerous state and offer imminent risks to society or to individuals may be subjected to reeducational or rehabilitation security measures. Said security measures must be strictly regulated by law and subject to the jurisdiction of the Judicial Branch.
ARTICLE 14.- The Judicial Branch is solely responsible for imposing penalties. However, the administrative authority may sanction, by resolution or sentence and after the corresponding trial, violations of laws, regulations or orders, with arrest for up to fifteen days or with a fine, which may be exchanged for an equal period.
ARTICLE 15.- No one can be tried except in accordance with laws promulgated prior to the event in question, and by the courts previously established by law.
ARTICLE 16.- The same judge cannot be a judge in different instances in the same cause.
ARTICLE 17.- No governmental body or authority can advocate pending cases or open closed trials.
In the event of a review in criminal matters, the State will compensate, in accordance with the law, the victims of duly verified judicial errors.
ARTICLE 18.- Every person has the right to direct their requests in writing, in a decorous manner, to the legally established authorities; to have it resolved, and to let it be known what has been resolved.
ARTICLE 19.- The person may only be searched or searched to prevent or find out crimes or misdemeanors.
ARTICLE 20.- The dwelling is inviolable and may only be entered by the consent of the person who inhabits it, by court order, for flagrant crime or imminent danger of its perpetration, or at the serious risk of persons.
Violation of this right will give rise to claim compensation for damages caused.
ARTICLE 21.- Laws cannot have retroactive effect, except in matters of public order, and in criminal matters when the new law is favorable to the offender.
The Supreme Court of Justice will always have the power to determine, within its jurisdiction, whether or not a law is of public order.
ARTICLE 22.- Everyone has the right to freely dispose of their goods in accordance with the law. The property is transferable in the manner in which the laws determine. There will be free will.
ARTICLE 23.- The freedom to contract is guaranteed in accordance with the laws. No person who has the free administration of his assets can be deprived of the right to terminate his civil or commercial affairs by transaction or arbitration. As for those that do not have that free administration, the law will determine the cases in which they can do so and the required requirements.
ARTICLE 24.- Correspondence of all kinds is inviolable, intercepted will not be authoritative nor may it appear in any action, except in cases of bankruptcy and bankruptcy.
Interference and wiretapping of telephone communications is prohibited.
ARTICLE 25.- The free exercise of all religions is guaranteed, with no other limit than those drawn up by morality and public order. No religious act will serve to establish the civil status of people.
ARTICLE 26.- The legal personality of the Catholic Church is recognized. The other churches will be able to obtain, according to the law, the recognition of his personality.
ARTICLE 27.- The death penalty may only be imposed in the cases provided for by military laws during the state of international warfare.
Imprisonment for debts, life sentences, criminals, outlaws and all kinds of torture are prohibited.
The State will organize prisons in order to correct offenders, educate them, and train them to work habits, seeking their readjustment and crime prevention.
ARTICLE 28.- El Salvador grants asylum to the foreigner who wishes to reside in its territory, except in the cases provided by the laws and International Law. Those who are persecuted solely for political reasons cannot be included in the exceptional cases.
Extradition may not be stipulated with respect to nationals in any case, nor with respect to foreigners for political crimes, although as a consequence of these, they result in common crimes.
SECTION TWO
EXCEPTION REGIME
ARTICLE 29.- In cases of war, invasion of the territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic or other general calamity, or serious disturbances of public order, the guarantees established in articles 5, 6 first paragraph, 7 first paragraph and 24 of this Constitution, except when it involves meetings or associations for religious, cultural, economic or sporting purposes. Such suspension may affect the whole or part of the territory of the Republic, and will be done by decree of the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch, as the case may be.
The guarantees contained in the Arts may also be suspended. 12 second paragraph and 13 second paragraph of this Constitution, when so agreed by the Legislative Organ, with the favorable vote of three-fourths of the elected Deputies; not exceeding the administrative detention of fifteen days.
The period of suspension of constitutional guarantees shall not exceed thirty days. After this period, the suspension may be extended, for the same period and by means of a new decree, if the circumstances that motivated it continue. If such a decree is not issued, the suspended guarantees will be restored by right.
ARTICLE 30.- Once the suspension of constitutional guarantees has been declared, it will be the jurisdiction of special military courts to hear crimes against
existence and organization of the State, against the international personality or its internal personality and against public peace, as well as crimes of international importance. In the decree of suspension of constitutional guarantees, one or some of the aforementioned crimes may be excluded from the knowledge of the special military courts in view of the circumstances that motivated the suspension of said guarantees.
The lawsuits that at the time of decreeing the suspension of guarantees are pending before the common authorities, will continue under their knowledge.
Once the constitutional guarantees have been restored, the special military courts will continue to hear the cases pending before them.
A special procedural law will regulate this matter.
ARTICLE 31.- When the circumstances that led to the suspension of constitutional guarantees disappear, the Legislative Assembly, or the Council of Ministers, as the case may be, must reestablish such guarantees.
CHAPTER II
SOCIAL RIGHTS
SECTION ONE
FAMILY
ARTICLE 32.- The family is the fundamental basis of society and will have the protection of the State, which will dictate the necessary legislation and create the appropriate organizations and services for its integration, well-being and social, cultural and economic development.
The legal foundation of the family is marriage
and rests on the legal equality of the spouses.
The State will promote marriage; but the lack of this will not affect the enjoyment of the rights established in favor of the family.
ARTICLE 33.- The law shall regulate the personal and patrimonial relationships of the spouses among themselves and between them and their children, establishing the reciprocal rights and duties on an equitable basis; and shall create the necessary institutions to guarantee their applicability. It shall also regulate the resulting family relationships. stable union of a man and a woman.
ARTICLE 34.- All minors have the right to live in family and environmental conditions that allow their integral development, for which they will have the protection of the State.
The law shall determine the duties of the State and shall create the institutions for the protection of maternity and childhood.
ARTICLE 35.- The State will protect the physical, mental and moral health of minors, and will guarantee their right to education and assistance.
The antisocial conduct of minors that constitutes a crime or misdemeanors will be subject to a special legal regime.
ARTICLE 36.- Children born in or out of wedlock and adoptees have equal rights vis-à-vis their parents. It is their duty to give your children protection, assistance, education and security.
No qualification on the nature of the filiation shall be recorded in the records of the Civil Registry, nor shall the marital status of the parents be expressed in the birth certificates.
Everyone has the right to have a name that identifies them. The secondary law will regulate this matter.
The law will also determine the ways to investigate and establish paternity.
SECTION TWO
WORK AND SOCIAL SECURITY
ARTICLE 37.- Work is a social function, enjoys the protection of the State, and is not considered an article of commerce.
The State will use all the resources within its reach to provide the worker with a proportional occupation, manual or intellectual, and to assure him and his family the economic conditions of a dignified existence. In the same way, it will promote the work and employment of people with physical, mental or social limitations or disabilities.
ARTICLE 38.- The work will be regulated by a Code whose main objective will be to harmonize the relations between employers and workers, establishing their rights and obligations. It will be based on general principles that tend to improve the living conditions of workers, and will include especially the following rights:
1º In the same company or establishment and in identical circumstances, equal work must correspond to the same remuneration to the worker, whatever their sex, race, creed or nationality;
2º Every worker has the right to earn a minimum wage, which will be set periodically. To set this salary, the cost of living, the nature of the work, the different remuneration systems, the different production areas and other similar criteria will be taken into account. This salary must be sufficient to satisfy the normal needs of the worker’s home in the material, moral and cultural order.
In piecework, by adjustment or lump sum, it is mandatory to ensure the minimum wage per working day;
3º The salary and social benefits, in the amount determined by law, are unattachable and cannot be compensated or withheld, except for maintenance obligations. They can also
withheld for social security obligations, union dues, or taxes. The labor instruments of the workers are unattachable;
4th The salary must be paid in legal tender. The salary and social benefits constitute privileged credits in relation to the other credits that may exist against the employer;
5th The employers will give their workers a bonus for each year of work. The law will establish the way in which its amount in relation to wages will be determined;
6º The ordinary day of effective working day will not exceed eight hours and the work week forty-four hours.
The maximum of overtime for each class of work will be determined by law.
The night shift and the one that performs dangerous or unhealthy tasks will be less than the day shift and will be regulated by law. The limitation of the working day will not apply in cases of force majeure.
The law will determine the length of the pauses that must interrupt the working day when, taking into account biological causes, the rhythm of the tasks so requires and that of those that must mediate between two working days.
Overtime and night work will be paid with a surcharge;
7º Every worker has the right to one day of paid rest for each working week, in the manner required by law.
Workers who do not enjoy rest on the days indicated above, will have the right to extraordinary remuneration for the services they render on those days and to a compensatory rest;
8º The workers will have the right to paid rest on the days off that the law establishes; This will determine the class of work in which this provision will not govern, but in such cases, the workers will have the right to extraordinary remuneration;
9º Any worker who accredits a minimum benefit of services during a given period, will have the right to paid annual leave in the manner determined by law. The vacations cannot be compensated in money, and the obligation of the employer to give them corresponds that of the worker to take them;
10º Minors under fourteen years of age, and those who, having reached that age, continue to be subject to compulsory education by virtue of the law, may not be engaged in any kind of work.
Their occupation may be authorized when it is considered essential for the subsistence of the same or their family, provided that this does not prevent them from complying with the minimum mandatory instruction.
The working day of minors under sixteen years of age may not be greater than six hours and thirty-four a week, in any kind of work.
Work is prohibited for those under the age of eighteen and for women in unhealthy or dangerous jobs. Night work is also prohibited for those under the age of eighteen. The law will determine dangerous or unhealthy work;
11º The employer who dismisses a worker without just cause is obliged to indemnify him according to the law;
12. The law will determine the conditions under which employers will be obliged to pay their permanent workers, who resign their job, an economic benefit the amount of which will be fixed in relation to wages and time of service.
The resignation produces its effects without the need for acceptance by the employer, but the employer’s refusal to pay the corresponding benefit constitutes a legal presumption of unfair dismissal.
In the event of total and permanent disability or death of the worker, he or his beneficiaries will be entitled to the benefits they will receive in the case of voluntary resignation.
ARTICLE 39.- The law will regulate the conditions under which collective labor contracts and agreements will be celebrated. The stipulations that these contain will be applicable to all the workers of the companies that have signed them, even if they do not belong to the contracting union, and also to the other workers who join such companies during the term of said contracts or agreements. The law will establish the procedure to standardize the working conditions in the different economic activities, based on the provisions contained in most of the collective labor contracts and agreements in force in each type of activity.
ARTICLE 40.- A professional training system is established for the training and qualification of human resources.
The law will regulate the scope, extension and manner in which the system must be put into effect.
The apprenticeship contract will be regulated by law, in order to assure the apprentice teaching a trade, dignified treatment, equitable remuneration and social security and social security benefits.
ARTICLE 41.- The home worker has the right to an officially designated minimum salary, and to the payment of compensation for the time lost due to the delay of the employer in ordering or receiving the work or due to the arbitrary or unjustified suspension of the same. The home worker will be recognized in a legal situation analogous to that of other workers, taking into account the peculiarity of their work.
ARTICLE 42.- The working woman will have the right to a paid rest before and after childbirth and to keep her job.
The laws will regulate the obligation of employers to install and maintain nurseries and places of custody for workers’ children.
ARTICLE 43.- Employers are obliged to pay compensation and provide medical, pharmaceutical and other services established by law, to the worker who suffers a work accident or any professional illness.
ARTICLE 44.- The law will regulate the conditions that workshops, factories and workplaces must meet.
The State will maintain an inspection service
technician in charge of ensuring faithful compliance with the legal standards of work, assistance, welfare and social security, in order to verify their results and suggest the pertinent reforms.
ARTICLE 45.- Agricultural and domestic workers have the right to protection regarding wages, work hours, breaks, vacations, social security, severance pay and, in general, social benefits. The extent and nature of the aforementioned rights will be determined by law in accordance with the conditions and peculiarities of the job. Those who provide services of a domestic nature in industrial and commercial companies, social entities and other comparable ones, will be considered as manual workers and will have the rights recognized by these.
ARTICLE 46.- The State will promote the creation of a bank owned by the workers.
ARTICLE 47.- Employers and private workers, without distinction of nationality, sex, race, creed or political ideas and whatever their activity or the nature of the work they perform, have the right to associate freely for the defense of their respective interests, forming professional associations. or unions. The workers of the official autonomous institutions will have the same right.
Said organizations have the right to legal personality and to be duly protected in the exercise of their functions. Dissolution or suspension may only be decreed in the cases and are the formalities determined by law.
The special norms for the constitution and functioning of the professional and union organizations of the countryside and the city, should not restrict the freedom of association. Any exclusion clause is prohibited.
The members of the union leaderships must be Salvadorans by birth and during the period of their election and mandate, and until after a year has elapsed since they have ceased their functions, they may not be fired, disciplinary suspended, transferred or deteriorated in their working conditions, except for just cause previously qualified by the competent authority.
ARTICLE 48.- Workers have the right to strike and employers to unemployment. For the exercise of these rights, the previous qualification will not be necessary, after having sought the resolution of the conflict that generates them through the stages of peaceful resolution established by law. The effects of the strike or stoppage will be traced back to the moment they start.
The law will regulate these rights in terms of their conditions and exercise.
ARTICLE 49.- The special labor jurisdiction is established. Procedures in labor matters will be regulated in such a way that they allow the rapid resolution of conflicts.
The State has the obligation to promote conciliation and arbitration, so that they constitute effective means for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes. Special administrative conciliation and arbitration boards may be established for the resolution of collective conflicts of an economic or interest nature.
ARTICLE 50.- Social security constitutes a compulsory public service.
The law will regulate its scope, extension and form.
Said service will be provided by one or more institutions, which must maintain adequate coordination among themselves to ensure a good social protection policy, in a specialized way and with optimal use of resources.
Employers, workers, and the State shall contribute to the payment of social security in the manner and amount determined by law.
The State and the employers shall be excluded from the obligations imposed by the laws in favor of the workers, insofar as they are covered by Social Security.
ARTICLE 51.- The law will determine the companies and establishments that, due to their special conditions, are obliged to provide, the worker and his / her family, adequate rooms, schools, medical assistance and other services and care necessary for their well-being.
ARTICLE 52.- The rights enshrined in favor of the workers cannot be waived.
The enumeration of the rights and benefits to which this chapter refers does not exclude others that derive from the principles of social justice.
THIRD SECTION
EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE
ARTICLE 53.- The right to education and culture is inherent to the human person; Consequently, its conservation, promotion and dissemination is the primary obligation and purpose of the State.
The State will promote research and scientific endeavor.
ARTICLE 54.- The State will organize the educational system for which it will create the institutions and services that are necessary. Natural and legal persons are guaranteed the freedom to establish private teaching centers.
ARTICLE 55.- Education has the following purposes: to achieve the integral development of the personality in its spiritual, moral and social dimension; to contribute to the construction of a more prosperous, just and humane democratic society; to instill respect for human rights and the observance of human rights. corresponding duties; combat any spirit of intolerance and hatred; know the national reality and identify with the values of the Salvadoran nationality; and promote the unity of the Central American people.
Parents will have the preferential right to choose the education of their children.
ARTICLE 56.- All the inhabitants of the Republic have the right and the duty to receive kindergarten and basic education that enables them to function as useful citizens. The State shall promote the formation of special education centers.
Kindergarten, basic and special education will be free when provided by the State.
ARTICLE 57.- The teaching given in the official educational centers will be essentially democratic.
Private educational centers will be subject to State regulation and inspection and may be subsidized when they are not for profit.
The State may exclusively take charge of the training of the teaching profession.
ARTICLE 58.- No educational establishment may refuse to admit students due to the nature of the union of their parents or guardians, nor due to social, religious, racial or political differences.
ARTICLE 59.- Literacy is of social interest. All the inhabitants of the country will contribute to it in the manner established by law.
ARTICLE 60.- In order to teach, it is required to accredit capacity in the manner provided by law.
In all educational centers, public or private, civil or military, the teaching of national history, civicism, morality, the Constitution of the Republic, human rights and the conservation of natural resources will be compulsory.
National history and the Constitution must be taught by Salvadoran teachers.
Academic freedom is guaranteed.
ARTICLE 61.- Higher education will be governed by a special law. The University of El Salvador and the rest of the State shall enjoy autonomy in educational, administrative and economic aspects. They must provide a social service, respecting academic freedom. They will be governed by statutes framed within said law, which will establish the general principles for their organization and operation.
The items destined to the support of the state universities and those necessary to ensure and increase their patrimony shall be consigned annually in the State Budget. These institutions will be subject, in accordance with the law, to the control of the corresponding state agency.
The special law will also regulate the creation and operation of private universities, respecting the freedom of teaching. These universities will provide a social service and will not pursue profit motives. The same law will regulate the creation and operation of the official and private technological institutes.
The State shall ensure the democratic functioning of higher education institutions and their adequate academic level.
ARTICLE 62.- The official language of El Salvador is Spanish. The government is obliged to ensure its conservation and education.
The autochthonous languages spoken in the national territory are part of the cultural heritage and will be the object of preservation, dissemination and respect.
ARTICLE 63.- The artistic, historical and ecological wealth of the country is part of the Salvadoran cultural treasure, which remains under the safeguard of the State and subject to special laws for its conservation.
ARTICLE 64.- The National Symbols are: the National Flag or Flag, the Coat of Arms and the National Anthem. A law will regulate what concerns this matter.
SECTION FOUR
PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE
ARTICLE 65.- The health of the inhabitants of the Republic constitutes a public good. The State and the people are obliged to ensure its conservation and restoration.
The State will determine the national health policy and will control and supervise its application.
ARTICLE 66.- The State will give free assistance to the sick who lack resources, to the inhabitants in general when the treatment constitutes an effective means to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. In this case, everyone is obliged to attend such treatment.
ARTICLE 67.- Public health services will be essentially technical. Health, hospital, paramedical and hospital administration careers are established.
ARTICLE 68.- A Higher Council of Public Health will watch over the health of the people. It will be made up of an equal number of representatives from the medical, dental, chemical-pharmaceutical and veterinary medical associations: it will have a President and a Secretary appointed by the Executive Body, who will not belong to any of said professions. The law will determine your organization.
The exercise of the professions that are related in an immediate way with the health of the people, will be supervised by legal organizations formed by academics belonging to each profession. These bodies will have the power to suspend the members of the union under their control from their professional practice when they exercise their profession with manifest immorality or incapacity. The suspension of professionals may be resolved by the competent bodies with only proof of moral robustness.
The Higher Council of Public Health will know and resolve on the appeals that are filed against the resolutions pronounced by the organizations referred to in the previous paragraph.
ARTICLE 69.- The State will provide the necessary and indispensable resources for the permanent control of the quality of chemical, pharmaceutical and veterinary products, through surveillance organisms.
Likewise, the State will control the quality of food products and environmental conditions that may affect health and well-being.
ARTICLE 70.- The State will take charge of the indigent who, due to their age or physical or mental disability, are unfit for work
CHAPTER III
CITIZENS, THEIR RIGHTS AND DUTIES
POLITICIANS AND THE ELECTORAL BODY
ARTICLE 71.- All Salvadorans over eighteen years of age are citizens.
ARTICLE 72.- The political rights of the citizen are:
1º Exercise the suffrage;
2º Associate to establish political parties in accordance with the law and join those already constituted;
3º To be eligible for public office, complying with the requirements established by this Constitution and the secondary laws.
ARTICLE 73.- The political duties of the citizen are:
1º Exercise the suffrage;
2º Comply with and ensure that the Constitution of the Republic is complied with;
3º Serve the State in accordance with the law.
The exercise of suffrage also includes the right to vote in direct popular consultation, contemplated in this Constitution.
ARTICLE 74.- Citizenship rights are suspended for the following reasons:
1st order of formal prison;
2nd mental alienation;
3rd judicial interdiction;
4º Refusing to carry out, without just cause, a popular election position; in this case, the suspension will last as long as the refused position should be held.
ARTICLE 75.- They lose the rights of citizens:
1º Those with notoriously flawed conduct;
3º Those who buy or sell votes in the elections;
4º Those who sign acts, proclamations or adhesions to promote or support the reelection or continuation of the President of the Republic, or employ direct means directed to that end;
5º Officials, authorities and agents of these who restrict the freedom of suffrage.
In these cases, citizenship rights are recovered by express rehabilitation declared by the competent authority.
ARTICLE 76.- The electoral body is made up of all citizens capable of casting a vote.
ARTICLE 77.- For the exercise of suffrage, it is an indispensable condition that they are registered in the Electoral Registry, prepared autonomously by the Central Council of Elections, and different from any other public registry.
ARTICLE 78.- The vote will be free, direct, equal and secret.
ARTICLE 79.- The territory of the Republic will be divided into electoral constituencies that will be determined by law. The basis of the electoral system is the population.
For elections of Deputies, the proportional representation system will be adopted.
The law will determine the form, time and other conditions for the exercise of suffrage.
The date of the elections for President and Vice President of the Republic shall precede not less than two months nor more than four months to the beginning of the presidential term.
ARTICLE 80.- The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Deputies to the Legislative Assembly and the members of the Municipal Councils are elected officials.
When in the elections for President and Vice President of the Republic no political party or coalition of participating political parties has obtained an absolute majority of votes in accordance with the scrutiny carried out, a second election will be held between the two political parties or coalition of political parties that has obtained the highest number of valid votes; This second election must be held within a period of no more than thirty days after the results of the first election have been declared and signed.
When due to force majeure or fortuitous event, duly qualified by the Legislative Assembly, the second election cannot be held in the indicated period, the election will take place within a second period of no more than thirty days.
ARTICLE 81.- Electoral propaganda will only be allowed, even without prior convocation, four months before the date established by law for the election of President and Vice President of the Republic; two months before, in the case of Deputies, and a table in the case of Municipal Councils
ARTICLE 82.- The ministers of any religious cult and members in active service of the Armed Forces may not belong to political parties or obtain popularly elected positions.
Nor will they be able to carry out political propaganda in any way.
The exercise of the vote will be carried out by citizens in the places determined by the respective law and may not be carried out in the precincts of military installations.
TITLE III
THE STATE, ITS FORM OF GOVERNMENT
AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
ARTICLE 83.- El Salvador is a sovereign State. Sovereignty resides in the people, who exercise it in the prescribed manner and within the limits of this Constitution.
ARTICLE 84.- The territory of the Republic over which ElSalvador exercises jurisdiction and sovereignty is irreducible and, in addition to the continental part, includes:
The insular territory made up of the islands, islets and keys listed in the Judgment of the Central American Court of Justice, pronounced on … March 1917 and which also correspond to it, according to other sources of International Law; likewise other islands, islets and cays that also correspond to it in accordance with international law.
The territorial and community waters of the Gulf of Fonseca, which is a historic bay with characteristics of a closed sea, whose regime is determined by international law and by the ruling mentioned in the previous paragraph.
The airspace, the subsoil and the corresponding continental and insular platform; Furthermore, El Salvador exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the sea, the subsoil and the seabed up to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the lowest tide line, all in accordance with the regulations of international law.
The limits of the national territory are the following:
TO THE WEST , with the Republic of Guatemala, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Territorial Limits, celebrated in Guatemala, on April 9, 1938.
TO THE NORTH, and TO THE EAST , in part, with the Republic of Honduras, in the sections delimited by the General Peace Treaty, signed in Lima, Peru, on October 30, 1980. As for the sections pending delimitation, the limits will be those that are established in accordance with the same Treaty, or where appropriate, in accordance with any of the means for the peaceful solution of international disputes.
TO THE EAST , in the rest, with the Republics of Honduras and Nicaragua in the waters of the Gulf of Fonseca.
AND TO THE SOUTH , with the Pacific Ocean.
ARTICLE 85.- The Government is republican, democratic and representative.
The political system is pluralistic and expresses itself through political parties, which are the only instrument for the exercise of the representation of the people within the Government. The rules, organization and operation will be subject to the principles of representative democracy.
The existence of a single official party is incompatible with the democratic system and with the form of government established in this Constitution.
ARTICLE 86.- Public power emanates from the people. The organs of the Government shall exercise it independently within the respective attributions and competencies established by this Constitution and the laws. The powers and competencies established by this Constitution and the laws. The powers of the Government bodies cannot be delegated, but they will collaborate with each other in the exercise of public functions.
The fundamental organs of the Government are the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial.
Government officials are delegates of the people and have no other powers than those expressly given by law.
ARTICLE 87.- The right of the people to insurrection is recognized, for the sole purpose of restoring the constitutional order altered by the transgression of the norms relating to the form of government or the established political system, or by serious violations of the rights enshrined in this Constitution.
The exercise of this right will not produce the abrogation or the reform of this Constitution, and will be limited to separating the offending officials as necessary, replacing them temporarily until they are replaced in the manner established by this constitution.
The attributions and competencies that correspond to the fundamental bodies established by this Constitution, may not be exercised in any case by the same person or by a single institution.
ARTICLE 88.- The alternative in the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic is essential for the maintenance of the established form of government and political system. The violation of this norm obliges the insurrection.
ARTICLE 89.- El Salvador will encourage and promote human, economic, social and cultural integration with the American republics and especially with those of the Central American isthmus. Integration may be carried out through treaties or agreements with the interested republics, which may contemplate the creation of an organism with supranational functions. .
It will also promote the total or partial reconstruction of the Republic of Central America, in a unitary, federal or confederate form, with full guarantee of respect for democratic and republican principles and the individual and social rights of its inhabitants.
The project and bases of the union will be submitted to popular consultation.
TITLE IV
NATIONALITY
ARTICLE 90.- They are Salvadorans by birth:
1º Those born in the territory of El Salvador;
2º The children of a Salvadoran father or mother, born abroad;
3º The natives of the other States that constituted the Federal Republic of Central America, that having domicile in El Salvador, manifest before the competent authorities their will to be Salvadorans, without requiring the renouncement of their nationality of origin.
ARTICLE 91.- Salvadorans by birth have the right to have dual or multiple nationality.
The quality of Salvadoran by birth is only lost by express resignation before the competent authority and is recovered by request before it.
ARTICLE 92.- The following can acquire the quality of Salvadorans by naturalization:
1º Spanish and Hispanic Americans of origin who have resided in the country for one year;
2º Foreigners of any origin who have had five years of residence in the country;
3º Those who, due to notable services rendered to the Republic, obtain the quality of the Legislative Organ;
4º The foreigner married to Salvadoran or the foreign married to Salvadoran who certify two years of residence in the country, before or after the celebration of the marriage.
Nationality by naturalization will be granted by competent authorities in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 93.- International treaties will regulate the form and conditions in which nationals of countries that were not part of the Federal Republic of Central America retain their nationality, notwithstanding having acquired Salvadoran nationality by naturalization, provided that the principle of reciprocity is respected.
ARTICLE 94.- The quality of naturalized Salvadoran is lost:
1º For residing more than two consecutive years in the country of origin or due to absence from the territory of the Republic for more than five consecutive years, except in the case of permission granted in accordance with the law;
2º By final judgment, in the cases determined by law. Whoever loses nationality in this way will not be able to regain it.
ARTICLE 95.- Legal entities constituted according to the laws of the Republic, which have legal domicile in the country, are Salvadoran.
The regulations that the laws establish for the benefit of Salvadorans may not be violated by means of Salvadoran legal entities whose partners or capital are mostly foreigners.
ARTICLE 96.- Foreigners, from the moment they arrive in the territory of the Republic, will be strictly obliged to respect the authorities and obey the laws, and will acquire the right to be protected by them.
ARTICLE 97.- The laws will establish the cases and the way in which the foreigner may be denied entry or stay in the national territory.
Foreigners who directly or indirectly participate in the country’s internal politics lose the right to reside there.
ARTICLE 98.- Neither Salvadorans nor foreigners may in any case claim compensation from the government for damages or losses caused to their persons or property by factions. They may only do so against guilty officials or individuals.
ARTICLE 99.- Foreigners may not appear to the diplomatic officer except in cases of denial of justice and after the legal remedies that they have expedited have been exhausted.
Denial of justice is not understood to mean that an enforceable ruling is unfavorable to the claimant. Those who violate this provision will lose the right to reside in the country.
ARTICLE 100.- Foreigners will be subject to a special law.
TITLE V
ECONOMIC ORDER
ARTICLE 101.- The economic order must respond essentially to principles of social justice, which tend to ensure to all the inhabitants of the country an existence worthy of the human being.
The State will promote economic and social development by increasing production, productivity and rational use of resources. With the same purpose, it will promote the various sectors of production and defend the interest of consumers.
ARTICLE 102.- Economic freedom is guaranteed, in what is not opposed to the social interest.
The State will promote and protect private initiative within the conditions necessary to increase the national wealth and to ensure its benefits to the greatest number of inhabitants of the country.
ARTICLE 103.- The right to private property in social function is recognized and guaranteed.
Intellectual and artistic property is also recognized, for the time and in the manner determined by law.
The subsoil belongs to the State which may grant concessions for its exploitation.
ARTICLE 104.- Real estate property owned by the State may be transferred to natural or legal persons within the limits and in the manner established by law.
Rustic state property with an agricultural vocation that is not essential for the activities of the state, must be transferred through the corresponding payment to the beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reform. It may also be transferred to public utility corporations.
ARTICLE 105.- The State recognizes, encourages and guarantees the right of private property over rustic land, whether individual, cooperative, communal or in any other associative form, and may not under any circumstances reduce the maximum extension of land established as a property right. this Constitution.
The maximum extension of rustic land belonging to the same natural or legal person may not exceed two hundred and forty-five hectares. This limitation will not be applicable to cooperative or community peasant associations.
The landowners referred to in the second paragraph of this article may freely transfer, alienate, divide, divide or lease it. The land owned by cooperative associations, peasant communities and beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reform will be subject to a special regime.
The owners of rustic lands whose extension is greater than two hundred and forty-five hectares, will have the right to immediately determine the part of the land that they wish to conserve, segregating it and registering it separately in the corresponding Real Estate and Mortgage Registry.
Rustic properties that exceed the limit established by this Constitution and are in pro-division may be divided between the co-owners.
The lands that exceed the extension established by this Constitution may be transferred under any title to peasants, small farmers, cooperative and communal peasant societies and associations. The transfer referred to in this paragraph must be made within a period of three years. A special law will determine the destination of the lands that have not been transferred, at the end of the previously established period.
In no case may the surplus lands referred to in the preceding paragraph be transferred to any kind of title to relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity.
The State will promote the establishment, financing and development of agroindustry, in the different departments of the Republic, in order to guarantee the employment of labor and transformation of raw materials produced by the national agricultural sector.
ARTICLE 106.- The expropriation will proceed for reasons of public utility or social interest, legally proven, and after a just compensation.
When the expropriation is motivated by causes arising from war, public calamity or when it has as its object the supply of water or electric power, or the construction of houses or of highways, roads or public roads of any kind, the compensation may not be prior.
When justifying the amount of compensation to be recognized for the expropriated assets in accordance with the preceding paragraphs, payment may be made in installments, which will not exceed fifteen years as a whole, in which case the corresponding bank interest will be paid to the expropriated person. Said payment must be made preferably in cash.
Entities that have been created with public funds may be expropriated without compensation.
Confiscation is prohibited either as a penalty or in any other way. The authorities that contravene this precept will respond at all times with their people and property for the damage caused. Confiscated property is essential.
ARTICLE 107.- All kinds of ties are prohibited, except:
1º Trusts constituted in favor of the State, municipalities, public entities, charitable or cultural institutions, and the legally incapable;
2º Trusts constituted for a term that does not exceed that established by law and whose management is in charge of legally authorized banks or credit institutions;
3rd The good of the family.
ARTICLE 108.- No corporation or civil or ecclesiastical foundation, whatever its denomination or object, will have the legal capacity to keep property or manage real estate, with the exception of those destined immediately and directly to the service or object of the institution.
ARTICLE 109.- The ownership of rustic real estate may not be acquired by foreigners in whose countries of origin Salvadorans do not have equal rights, except when dealing with land for industrial establishments.
Foreign and Salvadoran companies referred to in the second paragraph of Article 95 of this Constitution, will be subject to this rule.
ARTICLE 110.- No monopoly may be authorized except in favor of the State or the Municipalities, when the social interest makes it essential. Watertights may be established in favor of the State.
In order to guarantee business freedom and protect the consumer, monopolistic practices are prohibited.
Privileges may be granted for a limited time to discoverers and inventors and perfectors of production processes.
It is the responsibility of the State to provide, by itself or through autonomous official institutions, postal and telecommunications services. It may take charge of other public services, when social interests so require, providing them directly or through the aforementioned institutions or municipalities. It is also responsible for regulating and monitoring public services provided by private companies and the approval of their rates, except those established in accordance with international treaties or agreements, Salvadoran public service companies will have their work centers and bases of operations in El Salvador.
ARTICLE 111.- The power to issue monetary species corresponds exclusively to the State, which may exercise it directly or through a public issuing institute. The monetary, banking and credit regime will be regulated by law.
The State must guide monetary policy in order to promote and maintain the most favorable conditions for the orderly development of the national economy.
ARTICLE 112.- The State may administer the companies that provide essential services to the community, in order to maintain the continuity of the services, when the owners or entrepreneurs refuse to abide by the legal provisions on economic and social organization.
Property belonging to nationals of countries with which El Salvador is at war may also intervene.
ARTICLE 113.- Economic type associations that tend to increase national wealth through better use of natural and human resources, and to promote a fair distribution of benefits from their activities, will be fostered and promoted. In this class of associations, in addition to individuals, the State, municipalities and public utility entities may participate.
ARTICLE 114.- The State will protect and promote cooperative associations, facilitating their organization, expansion and financing.
ARTICLE 115.- Commerce, industry and the provision of small services are the patrimony of Salvadorans by birth and of natural Central Americans. Its protection, promotion and development will be the subject of a law.
ARTICLE 116.- The State will promote the development of small rural property. It will provide small producers with technical assistance, credits and other means necessary for the acquisition and better use of their lands.
ARTICLE 117.- The protection, restoration, development and use of natural resources is declared of social interest. EsEstado will create the economic incentives and provide the necessary technical assistance for the development of appropriate programs.
The protection, conservation and improvement of natural resources and the environment will be the subject of special laws.
ARTICLE 118.- The State will adopt population policies in order to ensure the greatest well-being of the inhabitants of the Republic.
ARTICLE 119.- The construction of houses shall be declared of social interest. The State will ensure that the largest number of Salvadoran families become owners of their home. It will encourage every owner of rustic properties to provide resident workers with a hygienic and comfortable room, and adequate facilities for temporary workers; and to the effect, it will provide the small owner with the necessary means.
ARTICLE 120.- In every concession granted by the State for the establishment of docks, railways, canals or other material works of public service, it shall be stipulated, as an essential condition, that after a certain time, no more than fifty years, such works shall pass through the Ministry of Law. , in perfect conditions of service, to the domain of the State, without any compensation.
These concessions must be submitted to the Legislative Assembly for approval.
TITLE VI
GOVERNMENT BODIES,
POWERS AND COMPETENCES
CHAPTER I
LEGISLATIVE BODY
SECTION ONE
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
ARTICLE 121.- The Legislative Assembly is a collegiate body composed of Deputies, elected in the manner prescribed by this Constitution, and it is fundamentally competent to legislate.
ARTICLE 122.- The Legislative Assembly will meet in the capital of the Republic, to begin its term and without the need for a convocation, on the first day of May of the year of the election of its members. He may move to another place in the Republic to hold his sessions, when he so agrees.
ARTICLE 123.- The majority of the members of the Assembly will be sufficient to deliberate.
To take a resolution, at least the favorable vote of half plus one of the elected Deputies will be required, except in cases where a different majority is required under this Constitution.
ARTICLE 124.- The members of the Assembly will be renewed every three years and may be re-elected. The period of their functions will begin on the first of May of the year of their election.
ARTICLE 125.- The Deputies represent the entire people and are not bound by any imperative mandate. They are inviolable, and will not have responsibility at any time for the opinions or votes they cast.
ARTICLE 126.- To be elected Deputy, it is necessary to be over twenty-five years old, Salvadoran by birth, son of a Salvadoran father or mother, of notorious honesty and instruction, and not have lost the rights of
citizen in the five years prior to the election.
ARTICLE 127.- The following may not be candidates for Deputies:
1º The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of the State, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the officials of the electoral bodies, the high military, and in general, the officials who exercise jurisdiction.
2º Those who have administered or handled public funds, as long as they do not obtain the settlement of their accounts;
3º The contractors of works or public companies that are financed with funds of the State or of the Municipality, their surety and those that, as a result of these works or companies have pending claims of their own interest;
4º The relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity;
5th The debtors of the Public or Municipal Treasury that are in arrears.
6º Those who have pending contracts or concessions with the state for the exploitation of national wealth or public services, as well as those who have agreed to be representatives or administrative proxies of those or of foreign companies that are in the same cases.
The incompatibilities referred to in the first ordinal of this article affect those who have held the indicated positions within the three months prior to the election.
ARTICLE 128.- The Deputies may not be contractors of public works or companies that are paid for with funds from the State or the Municipality; Neither to obtain concessions from the State for the exploitation of national wealth or public services, nor to accept being a representative or administrative proxies of nationals or foreigners who have those contracts or concessions.
ARTICLE 129.- Acting Deputies may not hold paid public positions during the time for which they have been elected, except those of a teaching or cultural nature, and those related to professional social assistance services.
However, they may hold the positions of Ministers or Vice Ministers of State, Presidents of Autonomous Official Institutions, Heads of Diplomatic and Consular Mission or carry out Special Diplomatic Missions. In these cases, they will rejoin their functions, if the period of their election is still in force.
The substitutes can carry out public jobs or positions without their acceptance and exercise causing the loss of the quality of details.
ARTICLE 130.- The Deputies shall cease in office in the following cases:
1º When in final sentence they are condemned for serious crimes;
2º When they incur the prohibitions contained in article 128 of this Constitution.
3º When they resign without just cause qualified as such by the Assembly.
In these cases, they will be disqualified from holding any other public office during the period of their election.
ARTICLE 131.- Corresponds to the Legislative Assembly:
1º Decree its previous regulation;
2º Accept or reject the credentials of its members, receive the constitutional protest, and deduct responsibility from them in the cases provided for by this Constitution;
3º To know of the resignations that the Deputies present, admitting them when they are based on just causes that are legally verified;
4º Call the alternate Deputies in the event of death, resignation, nullity of election, temporary permission or inability to attend of the owners;
5º Decree, authentically interpret, reform and repeal secondary laws;
6th decree taxes, fees and other contributions on all kinds of goods, services and income, in equitable relation; and in the event of invasion, legally declared war or public calamity, decree forced loans in the same relationship, if ordinary public revenues are not sufficient;
7º Ratify the treaties or pacts that the executive enters into with other States or international organizations, or deny their ratification;
8º Decree the Budget of income and expenses of the Public Administration, as well as its reforms;
9º Create and eliminate positions, and assign salaries to civil servants and employees in accordance with the Civil Service regime;
10º Approve its budget and salary system, as well as its reforms, consulting them previously with the President of the Republic for the sole purpose of guaranteeing that the
funds necessary for its fulfillment. Once said budget is approved, it will be incorporated into the Income and Expenditure Budget of the Public Administration;
11º Decree in a general way, benefits and tax incentives or of any nature, for the promotion of cultural, scientific, agricultural, industrial, commercial or non-service activities;
12º Decree laws on the recognition of public debt and create and allocate the funds necessary for its payment;
13º Establish and regulate the national monetary system and decide on the admission and circulation of foreign currency;
14º receive the constitutional protest and give possession of their position to the citizens who, according to the law, must exercise the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Republic;
15º Resolve on interposed resignations and licenses requested by the President and the Vice President of the Republic and the Designated, prior personal ratification before the same Assembly;
16º Compulsory ignorance of the President of the Republic or whoever takes his place at the end of his constitutional period continues in the exercise of the position. In such case, if there is no person legally called to exercise the Presidency, he will designate a Provisional President;
17º To elect, for the entire respective presidential term, nominal and public voting, two persons who as Designated must exercise the Presidency of the Republic, in the cases and in the order determined by this Constitution;
18º Receive the report of work that the Executive must render through its Ministers, and approve or disapprove it;
19th Elect the following officials by nominal and public vote: President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, President and Members of the Central Elections Council, President and Magistrates of the Court of Accounts of the Republic, Attorney General of the Republic and Attorney General of the Republic;
20º Declare, with no less than two-thirds of the votes of the elected Deputies, the physical or mental incapacity of the President, the Vice President of the Republic and the officials elected by the Assembly, for the exercise of their positions, after the unanimous opinion of a Commission of five physicians appointed by the Assembly;
21º Determine the attributions and competences of the different officials when this Constitution has not done so;
22º To grant to people or populations, titles, honorary distinctions and rewards compatible with the established form of government, for relevant services rendered to the Homeland.
However, such titles, distinctions and rewards are prohibited from being granted, while they are in office, to the following officials: President and Vice President of the Republic, Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, Deputies to the Legislative Assembly, and President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.;
23º Grant permission to Salvadorans to accept honorary distinctions granted by foreign governments;
24º Grant temporary permits or privileges for cultural or scientific activities or works;
25º Declare war and ratify peace, based on the reports provided by the Executive Branch;
26º To grant amnesty for political or common crimes related to these, or for common crimes committed by a number of people not less than twenty; and grant pardons, after a favorable report from the Supreme Court of Justice;
27º Suspend and reestablish constitutional guarantees in accordance with Art. 29 of this Constitution, in a nominal and public vote, with at least two-thirds of the votes of the elected Deputies;
28º Grant or deny permission to Salvadorans to accept diplomatic or consular posts that must be exercised in Elsalvador;
29º Allow or deny the transit of foreign troops through the territory of the Republic, and the parking of war ships or aircraft from other countries, for a longer time than established in international treaties or practices;
30º Approve the concessions referred to in Art. 120 of this Constitution;
31º Erect jurisdictions and establish charges, at the proposal of the Supreme Court of Justice, so that the respective officials hear all kinds of criminal, civil, commercial, labor, contentious-administrative, agrarian and other causes;
32º Appoint special commissions for the investigation of matters of national interest and adopt the agreements or recommendations deemed necessary, based on the report of said commissions;
33º to decree the National Symbols;
34º Interpellate the Ministers or Person in Charge of the Office and the Presidents of Autonomous Official Institutions;
35º Qualify the force majeure or the fortuitous event referred to in the last paragraph of article 80;
36º Receive the report of the work to be rendered by the Attorney General of the Republic, the Attorney General of the Republic, the President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic and the President of the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador;
37º Recommend to the Presidency of the Republic the removal of the Ministers of State; or to the corresponding bodies, that of the officials of Autonomous Official Institutions when it deems it appropriate, as a result of the investigation of their special commissions or of the interpellation, as the case may be;
38º Exercise the other attributions indicated by this Constitution.
ARTICLE 132.- All public officials and employees, including those of Official Autonomous Institutions and Members of the Armed Forces, are under the obligation to collaborate with the special commissions of the Legislative Assembly; and the appearance and declaration of those as well as those of any other person, required by the aforementioned commissions, will be mandatory under the same warnings that are observed in the judicial procedure.
The conclusions of the special investigation commissions of the Legislative Assembly will not be linked to the courts, they will not affect the procedures or judicial resolutions, without prejudice to the fact that the result is communicated to the Attorney General of the Republic for the exercise of pertinent actions.
SECTION TWO
THE LAW, ITS FORMATION; ENFORCEMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS
ARTICLE 133.- The following have exclusively initiative of law:
1º The Deputies;
2º The President of the Republic through his Ministers;
3º The Supreme Court of Justice in matters related to the Judicial Organ, the exercise of the Notaries and the Legal Profession, and the jurisdiction and competence of the courts;
4th The Municipal Councils in matters of municipal taxes.
ARTICLE 134.- Every bill that is approved must be signed by the majority of the members of the Board of Directors. One copy will be kept at the Assembly and two will be sent to the Executive.
ARTICLE 135.- Every bill, after being discussed and approved, shall be transferred to the Executive Branch within ten days at the latest, and if the latter has no objections, it shall be approved and published as law.
The sanction of the Executive Body will not be necessary in the cases of ordinal 1st., 2nd., 3rd., 4th., 14th., 15th., 16th., 17th., 18th., 19th., 20th., 32nd., 34th. ., 35o., 36o. and 37o. of Art. 131 of this Constitution and in the trials in which the Assembly knows.
ARTICLE 136.- If the Executive finds no objection to the project received, it will sign the two copies, return one to the Assembly, leave the other in its file and have the text published as law in the corresponding official body.
ARTICLE 137.- When the Executive Branch vetoes a bill, it will return it to the Assembly within eight days of its receipt, specifying the reasons on which it bases its veto; If within the term expressed it does not return it, it will be considered sanctioned and it will be published as law.
In the event of a veto, the Assembly will reconsider the project, and if it ratifies it with two-thirds of the votes, at least of the elected Deputies, it will send it back to the Executive, and the Executive must sanction it and have it published.
If it returns it with observations, the Assembly will consider them and resolve what it deems appropriate by the majority established in Art. 123, and will send it to the Executive, who must sanction it and have it published.
ARTICLE 138.- When the return of a bill is due to the fact that the Executive Branch considers it unconstitutional, and the Legislative Branch ratifies it in the manner established in the preceding article, the Executive shall address the Supreme Court of Justice within the third day, so that the latter, hearing the reasons of both bodies, decide whether or not it is constitutional, at the latest within fifteen days. If the Court decides that the project is constitutional, the Executive Body will be under the obligation to sanction it and publish it as law.
ARTICLE 139.- The term for the publication of the laws will be fifteen days. If within that term the Executive Body does not publish them, the President of the Assembly will do so in the Official Gazette or in any other newspaper with the highest circulation in the Republic.
ARTICLE 140.- No law is binding except by virtue of its enactment and publication. For a permanent law to be mandatory, at least eight days must elapse after its publication. This period may be extended, but not restricted.
ARTICLE 141.- In case of obvious error in the printing of the text of the law, it will be republished, at the latest within ten days. The last publication will be taken as the authentic subtext; and from the date of the new publication, the term for its validity will be terminated.
ARTICLE 142.- To interpret, reform or repeal the laws, the same procedures will be observed as for their formation.
ARTICLE 143.- When a bill is rejected or not ratified, it cannot be proposed within the next six months.
THIRD SECTION
TREATIES
ARTICLE 144.- International treaties entered into by El Salvador with other states or with international organizations, constitute laws of the Republic when they enter into force, in accordance with the provisions of the same treaty and of this Constitution.
The law may not modify or repeal what is agreed in a treaty in force for El Salvador. In the event of a conflict between the treaty and the law, the treaty shall prevail.
ARTICLE 145.- The treaties in which the constitutional provisions are terminated or affected in any way may not be ratified, unless the ratification is made with the corresponding reservations. The provisions of the treaty on which reservations are made are not the law of the Republic.
ARTICLE 146.- Treaties or concessions may not be signed or ratified or concessions be granted in which the form of government is altered or the integrity of the territory, the sovereignty and independence of the Republic or the fundamental rights and guarantees of the human person are altered or impaired.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply to international treaties or contracts with governments or national or international companies in which the Salvadoran State submits to the jurisdiction of a court of a foreign state.
The foregoing does not prevent the Salvadoran State, both in treaties and in contracts, from submitting the decision to arbitration or to an international tribunal in case of controversy.
ARTICLE 147.- For the ratification of any treaty or pact by which any question related to the limits of the Republic is submitted to arbitration, the vote of at least three quarters of the elected Deputies will be necessary.
Any treaty or convention entered into by the Executive Branch referring to the national territory will also require the vote of at least three-fourths of the elected Deputies.
ARTICLE 148.- It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly to empower the Executive Organ to contract voluntary loans, inside or outside the Republic, when a serious and urgent need demands it, and to guarantee obligations contracted by state or municipal entities of public interest.
The commitments contracted in accordance with this provision must be submitted to the knowledge of the Legislative Organ, which may not approve them with less than two-thirds of the votes of the elected Deputies.
The legislative decree authorizing the issuance or contracting of a loan must clearly express the purpose for which the funds will be used and, in general, all the essential conditions of the operation.
ARTICLE 149.- The power to declare the inapplicability of the provisions of any treaty contracted to the constitutional precepts, will be exercised by the courts within the power to administer justice.
The declaration of unconstitutionality of a treaty, in a general and compulsory way, will be done in the same manner provided by this Constitution for laws, decrees and regulations.
CHAPTER II
EXECUTIVE BODY
ARTICLE 150.- The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State and their dependent officials, make up the Executive Branch.
ARTICLE 151.- To be elected President of the Republic it is required: to be Salvadoran by birth, child of a Salvadoran father or mother; from the secular state, over thirty years of age, notorious demorality and education; be in the exercise of citizen rights, have been in the six years prior to the election and are affiliated with one of the legally recognized political parties.
ARTICLE 152.- The following may not be candidates for President of the Republic:
1º Anyone who has held the Presidency of the Republic for more than six months, consecutive or not, during the immediately preceding period, or within the last six months prior to the beginning of the presidential period;
2º The spouse and relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity of any of the persons who have exercised the Presidency in the cases of the previous ordinal;
3º The person who has been President of the Legislative Assembly or President of the Supreme Court of Justice during the year prior to the day of the presidential term;
4º Anyone who has been a Minister, Vice Minister of State or President of any Official Autonomous Institution, within the last year of the immediately preceding presidential term;
5th Profession military personnel who have been discharged or who have been in the three years prior to the day of the beginning of the presidential period;
6º The Vice President or Designee who is legally called to exercise the Presidency in the immediately preceding period, refuses to hold it without just cause, understanding that this exists when the Vice President or Designee expresses his intention to be a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, within the six months prior to the beginning of the presidential term;
7th The persons included in the ordinal 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of article 127 of this Constitution-
ARTICLE 153.- The provisions of the two previous articles shall be applied to the Vice President of the Republic and to those appointed to the Presidency.
ARTICLE 154.- The presidential term will be five years and will begin and end on the first day of June, without the person who has exercised the Presidency being able to continue in his functions one more day.
ARTICLE 155.- In the absence of the President of the Republic, due to death, resignation, removal or any other cause, the Vice President shall substitute him; in the absence of this, one of the Designated in the order of his nomination, and if all of these are missing for any legal reason, the Assembly will designate the person who will have to replace him.
If the causes that disqualify the President from the exercise of the position lasts more than six months, the person who replaces him according to the preceding paragraph will end the presidential term.
If the inability of the President is temporary, the substitute will exercise the position only for the duration of that period.
ARTICLE 156.- The offices of President and Vice President of the Republic and those of Designated are only renounced for serious duly proven cause, which will be qualified by the Assembly.
ARTICLE 157.- The President of the Republic is the General Commander of the Armed Forces.
ARTICLE 158.- The President of the Republic is prohibited from leaving the national territory without a license from the Legislative Assembly.
ARTICLE 159.- For the management of public business there will be the Secretariats of State that may be necessary, among which the different Branches of the Administration will be distributed. Each Secretariat will be in charge of a Minister, who will act with the collaboration of one or more Vice Ministers. Vice Ministers shall substitute the Ministers in the cases determined by law.
ARTICLE 160.- To be a Minister or Vice Minister of State, it is required to be Salvadoran by birth, over twenty-five years of age, of the secular state, of notorious morality and instruction; be in the exercise of citizen rights and have been in the six years prior to his appointment.
ARTICLE 161.- The persons included in the ordinal 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of article 127 of this Constitution may not be Ministers or Vice Ministers of State.
ARTICLE 162.- It is the responsibility of the President of the Republic to appoint, remove, accept resignations and grant licenses to the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State.
ARTICLE 163.- The decrees, agreements, orders and orders of the President of the Republic must be authorized and communicated by the Ministers in their respective Branches or by the Vice Ministers, as the case may be. Without these requisites, they shall not have legal force nor shall they be obeyed.
ARTICLE 164.- All the decrees, agreements, orders and resolutions that the officials of the Executive Organ issue, exceeding the powers that this Constitution establishes, will be null and void and will not be obeyed, although they are given subject to the approval of the Legislative Assembly.
ARTICLE 165.- The Ministers or Officers in Charge of the Office and Presidents of Autonomous Official Institutions must attend the Legislative Assembly to answer the interpellations made to them.
Officials called for interpellation who refuse to attend without just cause will be removed from their positions for the same fact.
ARTICLE 166.- There will be a Council of Ministers made up of the President and the Vice President of the Republic and the Ministers of State or who… ..have taken their place.
ARTICLE 167.- Corresponds to the Council of Ministers:
1º Decree the Internal Regulations of the Executive Branch and its own Regulations;
2º Prepare the general plan of the Government;
3º Prepare the draft income and expenses budget and present it to the Legislative Assembly, at least three months before the start of the new fiscal year;
It will also learn about the reforms to said budget when it comes to transfers between items of different Branches of the Public Administration;
4º Authorize the disbursement of sums that have not been included in the budgets, in order to satisfy needs arising from war, public decay or serious disturbance of order, if the Legislative Assembly is not meeting, immediately informing the Board of Directors of the same, of the causes that motivated such measure, for the purpose of wanting it to meet, whether or not it approves the corresponding credits.
5º Propose to the Legislative Assembly the suspension of constitutional guarantees referred to in Art. 29 of this Constitution;
6º Suspend and reestablish the constitutional guarantees referred to in Article 29 of this Constitution, if the Legislative Assembly is not meeting. In the first case, it will immediately report to the Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly, of the causes that motivated such measure and acts that it has executed in relation to it;
7º To convene extraordinarily to the Legislative Assembly, when the interests of the Republic demand it;
8º Know and decide on all matters submitted for consideration by the President of the Republic.
ARTICLE 168.- The powers and obligations of the President of the Republic are:
1º Comply with and enforce the Constitution, treaties, laws, and other legal provisions;
2º Keep the sovereignty of the Republic and the integrity of the territory unharmed;
3º To seek social harmony, and to preserve interior peace and tranquility and the security of the human person as a member of society;
4th Celebrate international treaties and conventions, submit them for ratification by the Legislative Assembly, and monitor their compliance;
5th Direct foreign relations,
6. Present through the Ministers, to the Legislative Assembly, within the two months following the end of each year, the report on the work of the Public Administration in the past year. The Minister of Finance will also present, within the three months following the end of each fiscal period, the general account of the last budget and the state demonstrating the situation of the Public Treasury and the Fiscal Estate.
If these obligations are not fulfilled within these terms, the Minister who does not verify it will be deposed by the same fact, which will be notified to the President of the Republic immediately, so that he can name the substitute. The latter shall present the corresponding report within the following thirty days. If, in this case, the provisions are not complied with, the new Minister will be deposed;
7º Give the Legislative Assembly the reports that it requests, except when dealing with secret military plans. Regarding political negotiations that it is necessary to keep in reserve, the President of the Republic must warn, so that they are known in secret session;
8º Sanction, promulgate and publish the laws and make them execute;
9º Provide the officials of the judicial order, the aid they need to make their orders effective;
10th Commute penalties, prior report and favorable opinion of the Supreme Court of Justice;
11º Organize and maintain the Armed Forces and confer military ranks in accordance with the law;
12. To dispose of the Armed Forces for the maintenance of sovereignty, order, security and tranquility of the Republic, and to call into service the necessary force, in addition to the permanent force, to fulfill such purposes;
13º Direct the war and make peace and immediately submit the treaty that it celebrates for the latter purpose to the ratification of the Legislative Assembly.
14th decree the regulations that may be necessary to facilitate and ensure the application of the laws whose execution corresponds to him;
15º Ensure the effective management and performance of public businesses;
16º Propose the list of persons from among whom the Legislative Assembly shall elect the two Designated to the Presidency of the Republic;
17º Exercise the other powers conferred by law.
ARTICLE 169.- The appointment, removal, acceptance of resignations and the granting of licenses of officials and employees of the Public Administration and the Armed Forces, shall be governed by the Internal Regulations of the Executive Branch or other applicable laws and regulations.
ARTICLE 170.- The diplomatic and consular representatives of the career accredited by the Republic must be Salvadorans by birth.
ARTICLE 171.- The President of the Republic, the Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and the Vice Ministers of State, are jointly and severally liable for the acts they authorize. For the resolutions taken in the Council of Ministers, the present Ministers or those who act in their stead will be responsible, even if they have saved their vote, unless they submit their resignation immediately after the resolution is adopted.
CHAPTER III
JUDICIAL AUTHORITY
ARTICLE 172.- The Supreme Court of Justice, the Chambers of Second Instance and the other courts established by secondary laws, make up the Judicial Organ. The power to judge and enforce what is judged in constitutional, civil, criminal, commercial, labor, agrarian and contentious-administrative matters, as well as in others determined by law, corresponds exclusively to this Organ.
Magistrates and Judges, with regard to the exercise of the judicial function, are independent and are subject exclusively to the Constitution and the laws.
ARTICLE 173.- The Supreme Court of Justice will be composed of the number of Magistrates determined by law, who will be elected by the Legislative Assembly and one of them will be the President of the Judicial Organ.
The law will determine the internal organization of the Supreme Court of Justice, so that the powers that correspond to it are distributed among different Chambers.
ARTICLE 174.- The Supreme Court of Justice will have a Constitutional Chamber to which it will correspond to hear and resolve the demands of unconstitutionality of the laws, decrees and regulations, the amparo processes, habeas corpus, the controversies between the Legislative Organ and the Executive Organ to referred to in Art. 138 and the causes mentioned in attribution 7 of Art. 182 of this Constitution.
The Constitutional Chamber will be composed of five Magistrates appointed by the Legislative Assembly, one of whom will be the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, who will also preside over it.
ARTICLE 175.- There will be Chambers of Second Instance composed of the Magistrates each, Courts of First Instance and Courts of Peace. Their number, jurisdiction, powers and residences will be determined by law.
ARTICLE 176.- To be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice it is required: to be Salvadoran by birth of the secular state, over forty years old, a lawyer for the Republic, of notorious morality and competence; have served as a Second Instance Magistracy for six years or a First Instance judiciary for nine years, or have obtained authorization to practice the profession of lawyer for at least ten years
before your action; You are in the enjoyment of the rights of citizens and have been in the six years prior to the performance of their position.
ARTICLE 177.- To be a Magistrate of the Chambers of Second Instance it is required: to be Salvadoran, of the secular state, over thirty-five years of age, a lawyer for the republic, of notorious morality and competence, to have served a judiciary of First Instance for six years or to have obtained authorization to practice the legal profession for at least eight years prior to the appointment; be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizens and have been in the six years prior to the performance of their position.
ARTICLE 178.- Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice or of the same Chamber of Second Instance, spouses or relatives among themselves, included within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity, may not be elected.
ARTICLE 179.- To be a Judge of First Instance it is required: to be a Salvadoran of the secular state, a lawyer for the Republic, notorious demorality and competence, to have served a peace judiciary for one year or to have obtained authorization to practice the profession of lawyer two years before appointment; be in the enjoyment of citizenship rights and have been in the three years prior to holding office.
ARTICLE 180.- They are minimum requirements to be a Justice of the Peace; be Salvadoran, from the secular state, over twenty-one years of age, notorious demorality and education; be in the enjoyment of citizen rights and have been in the three years prior to his appointment. The period of their functions will be two years.
ARTICLE 181.- The administration of justice will be free.
ARTICLE 182.- The powers of the Supreme Court of Justice are:
1º Know about the amparo processes;
2º Determine the competences that arise between the courts of any jurisdiction and nature;
3º Know the causes of prisoners and those that are not reserved to another authority, order the course of the supplications or commissions to be released to carry out proceedings outside the State and send compliance with those that come from other countries, without prejudice to the provisions in the treaties; and grant extradition;
4º Grant, in accordance with the law and as necessary, the permission for the execution of sentences pronounced by foreign courts;
5º Ensure that justice is administered promptly and fully, for which it will take the measures it deems necessary;
6º know of the responsibility of public officials in the cases indicated by law;
7º Know the causes of suspension or loss of citizenship rights in the cases included in the ordinal 2nd and 4th of article 75 of this Constitution and in the ordinal 1, 3, 4 and 5 of article 75 of this Constitution, as well as the corresponding rehabilitation;
8º Issue report and opinion on requests for pardon or commutation of sentence;
9º Appoint the Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, Judges of First Instance and Justices of the Peace; to forensic doctors and employees of the dependencies of the same Court; remove them, learn of their resignations and grant them licenses;
10th Appoint deputy judges in the cases determined by law;
11º Receive, by himself or through the officials he designates, the constitutional protest to the officials of his appointment;
12º Practice receiving lawyers and authorize them for the exercise of their profession; suspend them for breach of their professional obligations, for gross negligence or ignorance, for professional misconduct, or for notoriously immoral private conduct: disqualify them for venality, bribery, fraud, falsehood and any other reason established by law and reinstate them for legal reasons. In cases of suspension and disablement, it will proceed in the manner established by law, and will resolve with only moral robustness of proof. The same powers will be exercised with respect to notaries;
13º Prepare the draft budget for the salaries and expenses of the administration of justice and submit it to the Executive Branch for inclusion without modifications in the draft General Budget of the State. The budgetary adjustments that the Legislative Assembly deems necessary to make to said project will be made in consultation with the Supreme Court of Justice;
14º The others determined by this Constitution and the law.
ARTICLE 183.- The Supreme Court of Justice through the Constitutional Chamber will be the only competent court to declare the unconstitutionality of the laws, decrees and regulations, in their form and content, in a general and mandatory way, and may do so at the request of any citizen.
ARTICLE 184.- The Chambers of Second Instance of the capital, according to the matter, will hear in the first instance the lawsuits against the State; and in second instance they will know the respective Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.
ARTICLE 185.- Within the power of administering justice, it corresponds to the courts, in the cases in which they have to pronounce sentence , declare the inapplicability of any law or provision of the other Organs, contrary to the constitutional precepts.
ARTICLE 186.- The judicial career is established.
The Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice will be elected by the Legislative Assembly for a period of five years, and by the Ministry of Law they will continue for equal periods, unless at the end of each one of the periods, the Legislative Assembly agrees otherwise, or they are dismissed for legal reasons. .
The Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance and the Judges of First Instance shall enjoy stability in their positions.
the law will regulate the requirements and the form of entry to the judicial career, promotions, promotions, transfers and disciplinary sanctions to the officials included in it.
ARTICLE 187.- The National Council of the Judiciary is the body in charge of proposing candidates for the positions of Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance and of Judges of First Instance.
The law will determine the form of appointment of its members, their requirements, the duration of their functions and other matters pertaining to the Council.
ARTICLE 188.- The quality of Magistrate or Judge is incompatible with the exercise of the legal profession and with that of an official or employee of the other Organs of the state, except that of a teacher and that of a diplomat in transitory order.
ARTICLE 189.- The Jury is established for the trial of common crimes determined by law.
ARTICLE 190.- Attractive jurisdiction is prohibited.
CHAPTER IV
PUBLIC MINISTRY
ARTICLE 191.- The Public Ministry will be exercised by the Attorney General of the Republic, the Attorney General of the Republic and the other officials determined by law.
ARTICLE 192.- To be the Attorney General of the Republic or Attorney General of the
Republic, the same qualities are required as to be a Magistrate of the Chambers of
Second Instance: They will hold office for a period of three years and may be re-elected.
ARTICLE 193.- Corresponds to the Attorney General of the Republic:
1º Defend the interests of the State and society;
2º Promote ex officio or at the request of a party the action of justice in defense of legality and human rights protected by law;
3º Monitor the investigation of the crime and intervene in it from the police stage, and promote criminal action ex officio or at the request of a party;
4º Report or accuse personally before the Legislative Assembly or before the Supreme Court of Justice, the officials indicted for legal infractions whose judgment corresponds to those organizations;
5º Defend fiscal interests and represent the State in all kinds of lawsuits and in contracts on the acquisition of real estate in general and of furniture subject to bidding, and the others that the law determines;
6º Promote the prosecution and punishment of those accused of crimes against the authorities, and contempt.
7th Appoint special commissions for the fulfillment of their functions;
8º Appoint, remove, grant licenses and accept resignation to the Prosecutors of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Chambers of Second Instance, of the Courts that hear in the first instance, and to the Prosecutors of the Treasury. The same powers will be exercised with respect to the other officials and employees of their dependence;
9º Organize and direct the entities specialized in crime investigation;
10º Ensure that in the concessions of any kind granted by the State, the requirements, conditions and purposes established therein are met and exercise the corresponding actions in this regard;
11th Exercise the other powers established by law.
ARTICLE 194.- Corresponds to the Attorney General of the Republic:
1º To watch over the defense of the family and of the people and interests of the minors and other incapacitated ones;
2º Give legal assistance to people with scarce economic resources, and represent them judicially in the defense of their individual freedom and their labor rights;
3º Appoint, remove, grant license and accept resignation to the Auxiliary Prosecutors of all the Courts of the Republic, the Labor Prosecutors and the other officials and employees of their dependency;
4º The other attributions established by law.
CHAPTER V
COURT OF ACCOUNTS OF THE REPUBLIC
ARTICLE 195.- The control of the Public Treasury in general and of the execution of the Budget in particular, will be the responsibility of an independent body of the Executive Organ, which will be called the Court of Accounts of the Republic, and which will have the following powers:
1º Monitor the collection, custody, commitment and derogation of public funds; as well as the liquidation of taxes, fees, rights and other contributions, when the law determines it;
2º Authorize all outflows of funds from the Public Treasury, in accordance with the Budget; intervene preventively in any act that directly or indirectly affects the Public Treasury or the State assets, and endorse the acts and contracts related to public debt;
3º Monitor, inspect and review the accounts of the officials and employees who administer or manage public goods, and learn of the lawsuits to which these accounts give rise;
4º Supervise the economic management of autonomous state institutions and companies and of entities that use funds from the Treasury or that receive subsidies or subsidies from them. This inspection will be done in a manner appropriate to the nature and purposes of the body in question, in accordance with what the law determines in this regard;
5º Examine the account that the Executive Organ renders to the Assembly on the management of the Public Treasury, and inform the Assembly of the result of its examination;
6º To dictate the necessary regulations for the fulfillment of their powers;
7º Report in writing to the President of the Republic, the Legislative Assembly and the respective hierarchical superiors of the relevant irregularities verified to any official or public employee in the management of goods and funds subject to inspection;
8º Ensure that the debts in favor of the State and Municipalities are made effective;
9º Exercise the other functions that the laws indicate.
ARTICLE 196.- The Court of Accounts of the Republic, for the fulfillment of its jurisdictional functions, will be divided into a Chamber of Second Instance and in the Chambers of First Instance established by law.
The Chamber of Second Instance shall be made up of the President of the Court and two Magistrates, whose number may be increased by law.
These officials will be elected for a period of three years, may be re-elected, and may not be removed from their positions except for just cause, by resolution of the Legislative Assembly. The Chamber of Second Instance shall appoint, remove, grant licenses and accept resignations to the Judges of the Chambers of First Instance.
A special law will regulate the operation, jurisdiction, competence and administrative regime of the Court of Accounts and Chambers of the same.
ARTICLE 197.- Whenever an act submitted to the knowledge of the Court of Accounts of the Republic violates any law or regulation in force, in its opinion, it must warn the officials who in the exercise of their legal functions communicate it, and the act of in question will be suspended.
The Executive Branch may ratify the act in whole or in part, whenever it deems it legal, by means of a reasoned resolution taken in the Council of Ministers and communicated in writing to the President of the Court. Such resolution must be published in the Official Gazette.
The ratification duly communicated, will cause the suspension of the act to cease, provided that the observations of the Court of Accounts do not consist of lack or insufficiency of budget credit to which an expense must be applied, because, in such case, the suspension must be maintained until the credit deficiency has been filled.
ARTICLE 198.- The President and the Magistrates of the Court of Accounts must be Salvadorans by birth, over thirty years of age, of notorious honesty and competence; be in the exercise of citizenship rights and have been in the three years prior to election.
ARTICLE 199.- The President of the Court of Accounts shall render annually to the Legislative Assembly a detailed and documented report of the work of the Court. This obligation must be fulfilled within the three months following the end of the fiscal year.
Failure to comply with this obligation is considered a just cause for removal.
CHAPTER VI
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
SECTION ONE
THE GOVERNMENTS
ARTICLE 200.- For the political administration, the territory of the Republic is divided into departments whose number and limit will be set by law. In each of them there will be a proprietary Governor and an alternate, appointed by the Executive Branch and whose powers shall be determined by law.
ARTICLE 201.- To be Governor it is required: to be Salvadoran, from the secular state, over twenty-five years of age, to be in the exercise of the rights of a citizen and to have been in the three years prior to the appointment, of notorious morality and instruction, and to be original or a neighbor of the respective department, in the latter case, two years of immediate residence will be necessary prior to the appointment.
SECTION TWO
THE MUNICIPALITIES
ARTICLE 202.- For the Local Government, the departments are divided into Municipalities, which will be governed by Councils made up of a Mayor, a Trustee and two or more Councilors whose number will be proportional to the population.
The members of the Municipal Councils must be over twenty-one years of age and originating in or neighboring the municipality; They will be elected for a period of three years, they may be reelected and their other requirements will be determined by law.
ARTICLE 203.- The Municipalities will be autonomous in economic, technical and administrative matters, and will be governed by a Municipal Code, which will establish the general principles for their organization, operation and exercise of their autonomous powers.
Municipalities will be obliged to collaborate with other public institutions in national or regional development plans.
ARTICLE 204.- The autonomy of the Municipality includes:
1º Create, modify and suppress public taxes and contributions for the realization of specific works within the limits established by a general law.
Once the rates or contributions are approved by the Municipal Council, the respective agreement will be published in the Official Gazette, and after eight days after its publication, compliance with it will be mandatory;
2nd Decree your Budget of Income and Expenses;
3º Manage freely in matters within its competence;
4th Appoint and remove officials and employees from their dependencies;
5º Decree local ordinances and regulations;
6º Prepare their tax rates and the reforms to them, to propose them as law to the Legislative Assembly.
ARTICLE 205.- No law or authority may exempt or dispense the payment of municipal taxes and fees.
ARTICLE 206.- Local development plans must be approved by the respective Municipal Council; and the State Institutions must collaborate with the Municipality in their development.
ARTICLE 207.- Municipal funds may not be centralized in the General State Fund, nor be used except for services and for the benefit of the Municipalities.
To guarantee the development and economic autonomy of the municipalities, a fund will be created for their economic and social development. A law will establish the amount of this fund and the mechanisms for its use.
The Municipal Councils will administer the patrimony of their Municipalities and will render a detailed and documented account of their administration to the Court of Accounts of the Republic.
The execution of the Budget will be audited a posteriori by the Court of Accounts of the Republic, in accordance with the law.
CHAPTER VII
ARTICLE 208.- The Central Elections Council will be made up of three members elected by the Legislative Assembly, from each of the three members proposed by the three political parties or legal coalitions that have obtained the highest number of votes in the last presidential election.
There will be three alternate members elected in the same way. The President will be that of the majority party. They will last five years in their functions.
If for any circumstance no shortlist is proposed, the Legislative Assembly will hold the respective election without it.
ARTICLE 209.- The law shall establish the necessary bodies for the reception, counting and control of votes and other activities concerning the exercise of suffrage. The Central Council of Elections shall be the supreme authority in this matter, without prejudice to the resources established by this Constitution, for violation thereof.
The contending political parties will have the right of vigilance over the electoral process.
ARTICLE 210.- The State recognizes the political debt as a financing mechanism for the contending political parties, aimed at promoting their freedom and independence. Secondary law will regulate what is referred to in this matter.
CHAPTER VIII
ARMED FORCE
ARTICLE 211.- The Armed Forces is instituted to defend the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of its territory, to maintain peace, tranquility and public security and to comply with the Constitution and other laws in force.
It will especially ensure that the republican form of government and the representative democratic regime are maintained, the rule of alternation in the Presidency of the Republic is not violated, and freedom of suffrage and respect for human rights are guaranteed.
It will collaborate with the other dependencies of the Executive Branch in national development programs, especially in emergency situations.
ARTICLE 212.- The Armed Forces of El Salvador is a fundamental Institution for national security, permanent, essentially apolitical and obedient, and will not deliberate on service matters.
ARTICLE 213.- The organization and development of the activities of the Armed Forces will be subject to laws, regulations and special provisions. Its staff will be set annually by the Executive Body in the Defense and Public Security Branch, according to the needs of the service.
ARTICLE 214.- The military career is professional and it only recognizes the degrees obtained by rigorous scale and in accordance with the law.
The military may not be deprived of their ranks, honors and benefits, except in cases determined by law.
ARTICLE 215.- Military service is compulsory for all Salvadorans between eighteen and thirty years of age.
In case of need, all Salvadorans capable of performing military tasks will be soldiers.
A special law will regulate this matter.
ARTICLE 216.- Military jurisdiction is established. For the judging of purely military crimes and misdemeanors, there will be special procedures and courts.
From the resolutions of the Courts-Martial, appeals will be admitted in the last instance, before the General Commander of the Armed Forces, or before the respective Chief of Field Operations.
Members of the Armed Forces on active duty for purely military crimes and misdemeanors enjoy military jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 217.- The manufacture, import, export, trade, possession and carrying of arms, ammunition, explosives and similar items, may only be carried out with the authorization and under the direct supervision of the Executive Body in the Defense and Public Security Branch.
A special law will regulate this matter.
TITLE VII
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIME
CHAPTER I
CIVIL SERVICE
ARTICLE 218.- Public officials and employees are at the service of the State and not of a specific political fraction. They may not take advantage of their positions to engage in partisan politics. Whoever does so will be sanctioned in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 219.- The administrative career is established.
The law will regulate the civil service and especially the conditions of entry to the administration; promotions and promotions based on merit and aptitude; transfers, suspensions and layoffs; the duties of public servants and resources against the resolutions that affect them; It will also guarantee public employees stability in office.
Not included in the administrative career are officials or employees who hold political or trust positions, and, in particular, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, the Attorney General of the Republic, the Attorney General of the Republic, the Secretaries of the Presidency of the Republic, the Ambassadors, the General Directors, the Departmental Governors and the Private Secretaries of said officials.
ARTICLE 220.- A special law will regulate what is pertinent to the retirement of public and municipal officials and employees, which will fix the retirement percentages to which they will be entitled according to the years of service provision and the wages earned.
The amount of the retirement that is received will be exempt from any tax or fiscal and municipal rate.
The same law shall establish the other benefits to which public and municipal servants shall be entitled.
ARTICLE 221.- The strike of public or municipal workers is prohibited, as well as the collective abandonment of their positions.
The militarization of civilian public services will only proceed in cases of national emergency.
ARTICLE 222.- The provisions of this Chapter are extensive to municipal officials and employees.
CHAPTER II
PUBLIC ESTATE
ARTICLE 223.- Make up the Public Treasury:
1º Your funds and liquid securities;
2º Your active credits;
3º Your personal and real property;
4th The rights derived from the application of the laws relating to taxes; rates and other contributions, as well as those corresponding to any other title.
They are obligations in charge of the Public Treasury, the recognized debts and those that originate in the duly authorized public expenses.
ARTICLE 224.- All revenues from the Public Treasury will form a single fund that will be generally affected by the needs and obligations of the State.
The Law may, however, make certain income to service the public debt.
Donations may also be assigned for the purposes indicated by the donor.
ARTICLE 225.- When the law authorizes it, the State, for the achievement of its purposes, may separate goods from the mass of the Public Treasury or allocate resources from the General Fund, for the constitution or increase of special patrimonies destined for public institutions.
ARTICLE 226.- The Executive Branch, in the corresponding Branch, shall have the management of public finances and shall be especially obliged to preserve the balance of the Budget, as far as it is compatible with the fulfillment of the purposes of the State.
ARTICLE 227.- The General Budget of the State will contain, for each fiscal year, the estimate of all the income that is expected to be received in accordance with the laws in force on the date it is voted, as well as the authorization of all expenditures deemed appropriate for to carry out the purposes of the State.
The Legislative Organ may decrease or reject the requested credits, but never increase them.
The Budget will authorize the floating debt that the Government may incur, during each year, to remedy temporary deficiencies in income.
Autonomous state institutions and companies and entities that are financed with funds from the Treasury or that have a subsidy from it, except credit institutions, will be governed by special budgets and salary systems approved by the Legislative Organ.
A special law will establish what concerns the preparation, voting, execution and rendering of accounts of the budgets, and will regulate the procedure that must be followed when at the close of a fiscal year the Budget for the new fiscal year is not yet in force.
ARTICLE 228.- No sum may be committed or paid with a charge to public funds, if it is not within the limitations of a budget credit.
Any commitment, payment or payment must be made as provided by law.
Funds from future fiscal years may only be committed with legislative authorization, for works of public or administrative interest, or for the consolidation or conversion of the public debt. For such purposes, an extraordinary budget may be voted.
There will be a special law that will regulate subsidies, pensions and retirements that affect public funds.
ARTICLE 229.- The Executive Organ, with the legal formalities, may make transfers between items of the same branch or administrative organism, except those that are declared non-transferable in the Budget.
The Judicial Branch shall have the same power with regard to the budget items, complying with the same legal formalities.
ARTICLE 230.- For the perception, custody and distribution of public funds, there will be a General Treasury Service.
When public property is available in contravention of the legal provisions, the official who authorizes or orders the operation will be responsible, and so will the executor, if he does not prove his guilt.
ARTICLE 231.- Contributions cannot be imposed except by virtue of a law and for the public service.
The temples and their dependencies destined immediately and directly to the religious service, will be exempt from taxes on real estate.
ARTICLE 232.- Neither the Legislative Organ nor the Executive may waive the payment of the repaired amounts to the officials and employees who handle fiscal or municipal funds, nor from the debts in favor of the Treasury or the Municipalities.
ARTICLE 233.- The real estate of the Public Treasury and those of public use may only be donated or given inusufruct as a loan or lease, with the authorization of the Legislative Organ, to entities of general utility.
ARTICLE 234.- When the State has to enter into contracts to carry out works or acquire personal property in which funds must be committed to public goods, such works or supplies must be submitted to public bidding, except in the cases determined by law.
Contracts will not be entered into in which the decision, in the event of a dispute, corresponds to the courts of a foreign state.
The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall apply to the Municipalities.
TITLE VIII
RESPONSIBILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS
ARTICLE 235.- Any civil or military official, before taking possession of his position, shall protest under his word of honor, be faithful to the Republic, comply with and enforce the Constitution, in accordance with its text whatever the laws, decrees, orders or resolutions that contradict it, promising, in addition, the exact fulfillment of the duties that the position imposes on him, for which infraction he will be responsible according to the laws.
ARTICLE 236.- The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Deputies, the
Appointed to the Presidency, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, the President and
Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Chambers of Second Instance, the
President and Magistrates of the Court of Accounts of the Republic, the Attorney General of the
Republic, the Attorney General of the Republic, the President and Members of the
Central Elections Council and diplomatic representatives will answer to the
Legislative Assembly for the official and common crimes they commit.
The Assembly, hearing a prosecutor from its bosom or the accused, or a special defender, where appropriate, will declare whether or not there is room for the formation of cause. In the first case, the
Proceedings to the Chamber of Second Instance determined by law, for it to hear in the first instance, and, in the second case, they will be filed.
One of the Chambers of the Supreme Court of Justice shall hear in second instance the resolutions issued by the aforementioned Chamber, and the appeal that said resolutions admit, the full Court.
Anyone has the right to report the crimes that this article deals with, and to show themselves part, if they have the qualities required by law.
ARTICLE 237.- As soon as it is declared by the Legislative Assembly or by the Supreme Court of Justice, that there is room for the formation of a cause, the defendant will be suspended in the exercise of their functions and for no reason will be able to continue in their position. Otherwise he will be guilty of the crime of extension of functions. If the sentence is convicting, for the same fact he will be deposed from the position. If he is acquitted, he will return to the exercise of his functions, if the position is one of those that are conferred for a specified time and the period of the election or appointment has not expired.
ARTICLE 238.- The Deputies may not be tried for serious crimes that they commit from the day of their election until the end of the period for which they were elected, without the Legislative Assembly previously declaring that there is room for the formation of a cause, in accordance with the procedure established in Article previous.
For less serious crimes and misdemeanors that they commit during the same period, they may not be detained or imprisoned, nor called to declare but after the end of the period of their election.
If the President, Vice President of the Republic or a deputy was caught in flagrante delicto, from the day of their election until the end of the period for which they were elected, they may be detained by any person or authority, who will be obliged to make it immediately available to the Assembly. .
ARTICLE 239.- The Judges of First Instance, the Departmental Governors, the Justices of the Peace and the other officials that the law determines, will be judged for the official crimes they commit, by the common courts, after a declaration that there is room for cause, made by the Supreme Court of Justice. The aforementioned officials will be subject to ordinary procedures for the common crimes and misdemeanors they commit.
For the official or common crimes committed by the members of the Municipal Councils, they will respond to the corresponding Judges of First Instance.
ARTICLE 240.- Public officials and employees who become rich without just cause or expense of the Public or Municipal Treasury, will be obliged to restore to the State or the Municipality what they have acquired illegitimately, without prejudice to the responsibility that they have incurred in accordance with the laws.
Illicit enrichment is presumed when the increase in the capital of the official or employee, from the date on which he took possession of his position until the date on which he ceased to function, is notably higher than that which he would normally have had, by virtue of the wages and salaries that he may have had. legally received, and increases in your capital or income for any other just cause. To determine this increase, the
capital and income of the official or employee, his spouse and his children, shall be considered together.
The officials and employees that the law determines are obliged to declare the status of their assets before the Supreme Court of Justice, in accordance with the previous paragraphs, within the sixty days following the one in which they take office. The court has the power to take the measures it deems necessary to verify the veracity of the declaration, which it will keep in reserve and will only serve the purposes provided for in this article. When the aforementioned officials and employees cease from their positions, they must make a new declaration of the status of their assets. The law will determine the sanctions for non-compliance with this obligation.
Lawsuits for enrichment without just cause may only be initiated within ten years from the date on which the official or employee has ceased in the position whose exercise could give rise to said enrichment.
ARTICLE 241.- Public, civil or military officials who have knowledge of official crimes committed by officials or employees who are subordinate to them, must communicate it as soon as possible to the competent authorities for their prosecution, and if they do not do so in a timely manner, they will be considered as cover-ups and will incur in the corresponding criminal responsibilities.
ARTICLE 242.- The prescription of crimes and official misdemeanors will be governed by the general rules, and will begin to be counted from when the guilty official has ceased in his functions.
ARTICLE 243.- Notwithstanding, the approval given by the Legislative Organ to official acts in the cases required by this Constitution, the officials who have intervened in such acts, may be prosecuted for official crimes while the statute of limitations does not elapse.
The approval of the reports and accounts that are presented to the Legislative Organ, does not give more value to the acts and contracts to which they refer, than that which they have according to the laws.
ARTICLE 244.- The violation, infringement or alteration of the constitutional provisions will be specially punished by law, and the civil or criminal responsibilities incurred by public, civil or military officials, with such motive, will not admit amnesty, commutation or pardon, during the presidential period within which they were committed.
ARTICLE 245.- Public officials and employees will be liable personally and the State subsidiarily, for the material or moral damages that they cause as a result of the violation of the rights enshrined in this Constitution.
TITLE IX
SCOPE, APPLICATION, REFORMS AND REPEALS
ARTICLE 246.- The principles, rights and obligations established by this Constitution cannot be altered by the laws that regulate its exercise.
The Constitution shall prevail over all laws and regulations. The public interest takes precedence over the private interest.
ARTICLE 247.- Any person may request protection before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice for violation of the rights granted by this Constitution.
Habeas corpus can be requested before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice or before the Chambers of Second Instance that do not reside in the capital. The resolution of the Chamber that denies the freedom of the favored person may be subject to review, at the request of the interested party, by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.
ARTICLE 248.- The reform of this Constitution may be agreed by the Legislative Assembly, with the vote of half plus one of the elected Deputies.
For such a reform to be enacted, it must be ratified by the next Legislative Assembly with the vote of two thirds of the elected Deputies. Thus ratified, the corresponding decree will be issued, which will be published in the Official Gazette.
The reform can only be proposed by the Deputies in a number not less than ten.
The articles of this Constitution that refer to the form and system of government, other territory of the Republic and the alternation in the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic may not be amended in any case.
ARTICLE 249.- The Constitution promulgated by Decree No. 6, dated January 8, 1962, published in the Official Gazette No. 110, volume 194, dated 16 of the same month and year, adopted by Constitutional Decree No. 3, of dated April 26, 1982, published in Official Gazette No. 75, Volume 275, of the same date, its regime of exceptions, as well as all those provisions that are against any precept of this Constitution.
