Inter-American Court warns about the illegality of unlimited presidential re-elections.

The IACHR has recently issued an advisory opinion warning about the illegality of unlimited presidential re-elections before the American Convention of Human Rights. The Court has answered two questions raised by the Republic of Colombia: 1) Is unlimited presidential re-election a human right protected by the American Convention on Human Rights? and 2) Is unlimited presidential re-election compatible with representative democracy in the Inter-American Human Rights Protection System? The Court defined presidential re-election as “when a person serving as President of the Republic remains in office for more than two consecutive periods of reasonable duration” without the possibility of changing the length “during the term.” The Court replied that it does not exist a right to unlimited presidential election neither in the American Convention nor in the American Declaration, nor generally in the body of international human rights law, international treaties, regional custom, or general legal principles. Furthermore, it stated that banning unlimited presidential re-election can be compatible with the American Convention as long as the law prescribes it. Given that the most dangerous threat against democracies nowadays is not an abrupt break of the constitutional order, but the steady erosion of democratic safeguards that may lead to an authoritarian regime, even if elected by popular vote, the Court concluded that repetitive re-elections can be a risk to Human Rights law because it provokes this exact effect. It weakens opposition parties, and consequently the political debate in general, by diminishing the expectation of parties to access power, and then perpetuating authoritarian regimes. For further information, please visit: https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/comunicados/cp_53_2021_eng.pdf