Supreme Courts and presidential candidacies in Central America

Authors

  • Elena Martínez Barahona
  • Amelia Brenes Barahona

Keywords:

Supreme Courts, presidential reelection, judicial politics, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras

Abstract

This work aims to develop a model to explain the behavior of the high courts judges when they take decisions that affect the access to the executive. For this purpose, this paper analyzes the cases in which the Supreme Courts in Central America have intervened to decide who can have access to presidential power and under which conditions that can happen. Through the analysis of constitutional interpretations of laws that control presidential re-election or who is the incumbent to the presidency of a country, this paper examines the explanatory factors that have led to the Supreme Courts to decide who is the holder of executive power. In this regard, the article considers the cases of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.