referendum should be carried out.116 A week later, the constitutional chamber, composed of a pro-Chávez majority, decided that it had jurisdiction to review the electoral chamber’s decision and overruled it.117 As a result, the opposition launched a new petition drive to obtain the number of signatures necessary to carry out the recall referendum.
The 2004 Court-Packing Law In May 2004, President Chávez signed a law that severely undermined the independence of the country’s judicial branch, just a day after the National Assembly had passed it. The new Organic Law of the Supreme Court (Ley Orgánica del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, LOTSJ) fundamentally altered the composition of the country’s highest court, as well as its relationship to the other branches of government.118
Power to Pack the Court The new court-packing law increased the Supreme Court from 20 to 32 justices, adding two justices to each of the court’s six chambers.119 The new justices could be selected with a simple majority vote of the National Assembly: a nominee who failed to receive a two-thirds majority in the first three votes could be selected by a simple
116
On March 15, 2004, the electoral chamber of the Supreme Court, presided over by the Justice Alberto Martini Urdaneta, decided on a challenge presented by members of the Coordinadora Democrática, who were linked to the opposition. These included Julio Borges (national coordinator of Primero Justicia), César Pérez Vivas (secretary general of COPEI), Henry Ramos Allup (secretary general of Acción Democrática), Jorge Sucre Castillo (president of Proyecto Venezuela), and Ramon José Medina and Gerardo Blyde (representatives in the National Assembly). The court stated that the creation of new criteria for validating signatures could hinder efforts to reach the number necessary to convoke a recall referendum on the presidency, and that this generated a possible violation of the constitution. The court also held that it was necessary to solve the problem quickly, since prolonging it would pose risks to the recall process. Consequently, the electoral chamber ordered, as a precautionary measure, that the effects of the CNE’s decision be suspended, and mandated that the 876,017 signatures be added to those that had been validated by the CNE, bringing the total number of signatures to 2,708,510. Supreme Court Electoral Chamber, Rafael Martini Urdaneta, Case No. AA70-E-2004-000021, March 15, 2004, http://www.tsj.gov.ve/decisiones/selec/marzo/24-150304-x00006.htm (accessed July 14, 2008). 117 Supreme Court Constitutional Chamber, José Manuel Delgado Ocando, Case No. 04-0620, March 23, 2004, http://www.tsj.gov.ve/decisiones/scon/Marzo/442-230304-04-0620.htm (accessed July 8, 2008). 118 Organic Law of the Supreme Court [Ley Orgánica del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela], Official Gazette, No. 37.942, 2004, http://www.tsj.gov.ve/legislacion/nuevaleytsj.htm. Organic laws are laws that govern the structure and operation of government institutions. The LOTSJ replaced the previous Organic Law of the Supreme Court (Ley Orgánica de la Corte Suprema de Justicia) of July 1976. 119
Ibid., art. 2
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Human Rights Watch September 2008