TITLE V. Structure and Organization of the State
CHAPTER I. Electoral Political Regime
Article 223. Freedom in the Formation and Functioning of the Political Organizations
The State guarantees the free formation and functioning of the political organizations and they shall only have the limitations determined by this Constitution and the law.
Everything that is related to the exercise of suffrage, the political rights, [the] political organizations, [the] electoral authorities and organs and the electoral process, will be regulated by the constitutional law of the matter.
Once the convocation to elections has been made, the President of the Republic, the functionaries of the Executive Organ, the mayors and [the] municipal functionaries are prohibited from making propaganda concerning the works [obras] and activities conducted.
CHAPTER II. Administrative Regime
Article 224. Administrative Division
For the purpose of its administration, the territory of the Republic is divided into departments and these into municipalities.
The administration will be decentralized and regions of development will be established with economic, social, and cultural criteria that may be constituted by one or more departments to provide a rationalized impulse to the integral development of the country.
However, when it is appropriate for the interests of the Nation, the Congress can modify the administrative division of the country, establishing a regime of regions, departments, and municipalities, or any other system, without undermining the municipal autonomy.
Article 225. National Council of Urban and Rural Development
For the organization and coordination of the public administration, the National Council of Urban and Rural Development [Consejo Nacional de Desarollo Urbano y Rural] is created, coordinated by the President of the Republic and structured [integrado] in the form established by the law.
This Council shall have as its charge [cargo] the formulation of urban and rural development policies, as well as that of territorial ordering.
Article 226. Regional Council of Urban and Rural Development
The regions which are established according to the law, will have a Regional Council of Urban and Rural Development [Consejo Regional de Desarollo Urbano y Rural], presided over by a representative of the President of the Republic and made up of the governors of the departments which form the region, by a representative of the municipal corporations of each one of the departments included in the same, and by the representatives of the public and private entities established by the law.
The presidents of these councils will be ex officio members of the National Council of Urban and Rural Development.
Article 227. [The] Governors
The government of [each of] the departments will be the charge [cargo] of a governor appointed by the President of the Republic who must meet the same qualifications as a Minister of State and [will] enjoy the same immunities, having to be domiciled for the five years prior to his [or her] appointment in the department in order to be appointed.
Article 228. Departmental Council
In each department there will be a Departmental Council to be presided over by the governor; it will be integrated by the mayors of all the municipalities and [the] representatives of the organized public and [the] private sectors, with the purpose of promoting the development of the department.
Article 229. Financial Contribution of the Central Government to the Departments
The regional and departmental councils, shall be entitled to the necessary financial support for their functioning from the Central Government.
Article 230. General Registry of Property
The General Registry of Property, shall be organized so that[,] in each department or region determined specifically by the law, a specific registry [registro] of property and the respective fiscal registry [catastro] are established.
Article 231. [The] Metropolitan Region
The city of Guatemala as [the] capital of the Republic and its area of urban influence, will constitute the metropolitan region, integrating [these] into the same corresponding Regional Development Council.
The matters relative to the territorial jurisdiction, [the] administrative organization, and [the] financial participation of the Central Government will be determined by the law of the matter.
CHAPTER III. Regime of Control and Supervision [Fiscalización]
Article 232. Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts [Contraloría]
The Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts is a decentralized technical institution, with control functions of the revenues, expenditures, and in general [of] all the fiscal interests of the organs of the State, the municipalities, [the] decentralized and autonomous entities, as well as of any person who may receive funds of the State or undertake public collections.
Also subject to this control are the contractors of public works and any other person who, through the delegation of the State, should invest or administer public funds.
Its organization, functioning, and attributions shall be determined by the law.
Article 233. Election of the Comptroller General of Accounts
The head of the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts will be elected for a term of four years by the Congress of the Republic, by an absolute majority of the total number of deputies that comprise this Organ. He [or she] may only be removed by the Congress of the Republic in cases of negligence, crime, or lack of fitness [falta de idoneidad]. He [or she] will render a report of his [or her] management to the Congress of the Republic, whenever requested to do so and[,] of office[,] twice a year. He [or she] will enjoy [the] equal immunities as the magistrates of the Court of Appeals. In no case may the Comptroller General of Accounts be reelected.
The Congress of the Republic shall carry out the election to which this Article refers to from a nómina of six candidates proposed by a nominating commission integrated by a representative of the Rectors of the Universities of the country, who shall preside over it, the Deans of Departments that include the career of Public Accounting and Auditing of each University of the country and an equivalent number of representatives elected by the General Assembly of the Association of Economists, Public Accountants and Auditors and Business Administrators [Assemblea General del Colegio de Economistas, Contadores Públicos y Auditores y Administradores de Empresas].
The election of [the] candidates requires the vote of at least the two-thirds part of the members of the such Commission.
In the elections [votaciones], to make up the Nominating Commission as well as to make up the nómina of candidates, no representation whatsoever will be accepted.
Article 234. Qualifications of the Comptroller General of Accounts
The Comptroller General of Accounts shall be the Head of the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts and [he or she] shall be over forty years of age, [a] Guatemalan, a public accountant and auditor, of recognized integrity and professional prestige, be in the enjoyment of his [or her] rights of citizenship, not being involved in a lawsuit pertaining to matters of accounts, and having previously exercised his [or her] profession for [a period of] at least ten years.
Article 235. Faculties of the Comptroller General of Accounts
The Comptroller General of Accounts has the faculty to appoint and remove the functionaries and employees of the various agencies of the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts and to appoint auditors [interventores] in the matters of its competence, all of this in accordance with the Law of Civil Service.
Article 236. Legal Recourses
Against the acts and resolutions of the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts, the judicial and administrative recourses specified by the law proceed.
CHAPTER IV. [The] Financial Regime
Article 237. [The] General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State
The General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State [Presupuesto General de Ingresos y Egresos del Estado], approved for each fiscal year, in accordance with what is established in this Constitution, will include the estimate of all revenues to be obtained and a detailed account of expenditures and [the] investments to be made.
The unifications of the budget is obligatory and its structure is programmatic. All of the revenues of the State constitute a common indivisible fund destined exclusively to cover its expenditures.
The Organs, [and] the decentralized and autonomous entities may have budgets and private funds when the law so provides, their budgets will obligatorily be sent annually to the Executive Organ and to the Congress of the Republic, for their information and inclusion into the general budget and will, additionally[,] be subject to the control and supervision of the corresponding organs of the State. The Law may establish other cases in which the funds of dependencies of the Executive will be administered in [a] private form to assure their efficiency. The noncompliance with this provision is punishable and the functionaries under whose direction the dependencies function shall be held personally responsible.
[The] confidential expenditures, [and] any expenditure that cannot be verified or that is not subject to inspection may not be included in the General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State. This provision is applicable to the budgets of any organ, institution, business or autonomous or decentralized entity.
The General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State and its analytical execution are public documents, accessible to any citizen who would like to consult them, to which effect the Ministry of Public Finances shall arrange that copies of it are available [obren] in the National Library, the General Archive of Central America and the libraries of the universities of the country. The other institutions of the government and the decentralized and autonomous entities that manage their own budgets shall proceed in equal form. The public functionary that impedes or makes consultation difficult will incur in penal responsibility.
The Organs or entities of the State that dispose of private funds are obligated to annually publish in detail their origin and application, properly audited by the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts. The aforementioned publication shall be made in the Diario Oficial [Official Gazette] within the six months following the closing of each fiscal year.
Article 238. [The] Organic Law of the Budget
The Organic Law of the Budget will regulate:
- The formulation, execution, and liquidation of the General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State and the norms that according to this Constitution are submitted for discussion and approval;
- In those cases where funds may be transferred within the total allocated for each organ, dependency, [or] decentralized or autonomous entity, the transfer of items must be reported immediately to the Congress of the Republic and to the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts;The funds of investment programs may not be transferred to programs of [the] functioning or [the] payment of the public debt.
- The use of [the] economies and the investment of any eventual surplus and revenues;
- The standards and regulations to which all matters relative to the domestic and foreign public debt, their amortization and settlement, are subject;
- The measures of control and supervision of entities that dispose of privative funds, concerning the approval and execution of their budget;
- The form and quantity of [the] remuneration of all the functionaries and public employees, including those of the decentralized and autonomous entities.It will regulate specifically those cases where some functionaries, exceptionally and by being necessary for the public service, receive expenses of representation.
Any other forms of remuneration are prohibited, and whoever authorizes them will be personally responsible;
- The form of verifying [the] public expenditures; and
- The forms of collecting the public revenues.
When a work or service is contracted that lasts for two or more fiscal years, the necessary funds shall be adequately provisioned for its completion within the corresponding budgets.
Article 239. Principle of Legality
It corresponds exclusively to the Congress of the Republic, to decree [the] ordinary and extraordinary taxes, [the] assessments [arbitrios], and [the] special contributions in accordance with the needs of the State and in accordance with [an] equitable and tributary justice, as well as how to determine the bases of collection, especially those following:
- The generating event [hecho generador] of the taxable relationship;
- The exemptions [exenciones];
- The taxpayer [sujeto pasivo] and the unified responsibility;
- The taxable base and the type of taxation;
- The deductions, the discounts, [the] reductions and charges; and
- The tax infractions and sanctions.
The provisions, hierarchically inferior to the law, which contradict or distort the legal norms regulating the bases of tax collection, are null ipso jure. The regulatory provisions may not modify the mentioned bases and shall establish norms to specify [matters] relative to the administrative collection of [the] taxes and to establish the procedures facilitating their collection.
Article 240. [The] Source of [the] Investments and Expenditures of the State
Any law which involves the investments and [the] expenditures of the State, must indicate the source from which the funds designated to cover them will originate.
If the investment or the expense is not included and identified in the General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State approved for the respective fiscal year, the Budget may not be extended [ampliado] by the Congress of the Republic without the favorable opinion of the Executive Organ.
If the opinion of the Executive Organ should be unfavorable, the Congress of the Republic may only approve the extension with the vote of at least the two-thirds part of the total number of deputies that integrate it.
Article 241. [The] Rendering of [the] Accounts of the State
The Executive Organ will annually present to the Congress of the Republic the rendering of [the] accounts of the State.
The respective Minister will formulate the liquidation of the annual budget and will bring it to the attention of the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts within the first three months of each year. Once the liquidation is received, the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts will issue a report [dictamen] and will [also] issue an opinion within [a term of] no more than two months, which report he [or she] must remit to the Congress of the Republic, which will approve or disapprove the liquidation.
In case of disapproval [improbación], the Congress of the Republic must request the appropriate reports or explanations and[,] if due to punishable causes[,] the result will be certified to the Public Ministry.
Once the liquidation of the budget is approved, a summary of the financial statements of the State will be published in the Diario Oficial.
The organs and decentralized or autonomous entities of the State, having their own budget, will present to the Congress of the Republic in the same form and within the same period the corresponding liquidation, to satisfy the principle of unity in the control [fiscalización] of the revenues and expenditures of the State.
Article 242. Fund of Guarantee
With the purpose of financing the economic and social development programs conducted by the nonprofit organizations of the private sector, legally recognized in the country, the State will constitute a specific fund of guarantee from its own resources, [and those] of decentralized or autonomous entities, of private contributions or of international origin. A law will regulate this matter.
Article 243. Principle of [the] Capacity [Capcidad] to Pay
The taxation system must be just and equitable. For that purpose the tax laws will be based on the principle of the capacity to pay.
Confiscatory taxes and double or multiple domestic taxation are prohibited. There is double or multiple taxation when the same taxable event[hecho,] attributable to the same passive subject [sujeto passivo,] is levied [gravado] two or more times, by one or more subjects with taxing power, and for the same event [evento] or tax period.
When this Constitution is promulgated, the cases of double or multiple taxation must be eliminated progressively in order not to hinder the tax authorities.
CHAPTER V. [The] Army
Article 244. [The] Integration, Organization, and Objectives [Fines] of the Army
The Army of Guatemala, is an institution destined to maintain the independence, sovereignty, and [the] honor of Guatemala, its territorial integrity, [the] peace, and [the] internal and external security.
It is unique and indivisible, essentially professional, apolitical, obedient, and non-deliberative.
It is composed of ground, air and naval forces.
Its organization is hierarchical and it is based on the principles of discipline and obedience.
Article 245. Prohibition of Illegal Armed Groups
The organization and functioning of armed groups unregulated by the laws of the Republic and its regulations[,] is punishable.
Article 246. Responsibilities [Cargos] and Attributions of the President in the Army
The President of the Republic is the Commander General of the Army and will convey his [or her] orders through the general officer or colonel or its equivalent in the Navy [Marina de Guerra], who holds the position of Minister of National Defense.
In that capacity he [or she] has the attributions mentioned in the law and especially the following:
- To decree the mobilization and demobilization; and
- To grant promotions to the officers [de la oficialidad] in the Army of Guatemala in time of peace and war as well as to confer military decorations and honors in the cases and forms established by the Constitutive Law of the Army [Ley Constitutiva de Ejército] and [the] other laws and military regulations. He [or she] may, likewise, approve extraordinary pensions.
Article 247. Requirements to be an Officer of the Army
To be an officer of the Army of Guatemala, the candidate must be a Guatemalan of origin and never have adopted a foreign citizenship.
Article 248. Prohibitions
The members [integrantes] of the Army on active duty, may not exercise their right of suffrage, or the right of petition in political matters. Neither may they exercise the right of petition in a collective form.
Article 249. Cooperation of the Army
The Army will lend its cooperation in emergency situations or public calamity.
Article 250. Legal Regime of the Armed Forces
The Army of Guatemala is governed according to what is established in Constitution, its Constituent Law and [the] other military laws and regulations.
CHAPTER VI. The Public Ministry and the Office of the Procurator General of the Nation
Article 251. The Public Ministry
The Public Ministry is an auxiliary institution of the public administration and of the tribunals with autonomous functions, whose principal goals are to see to the strict fulfillment of the laws of the country. Its organization and functioning will be regulated by its organic law.
The Head of the Public Ministry shall be the Attorney General [Fiscal General] of the Republic and the exercise of the public penal action corresponds to him [or her]. He [or she] shall be a collegiate lawyer, and have the same qualities as the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and he [or she] shall be appointed by the President of the Republic from a nómina of six candidates proposed by a nominating commission, integrated by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, who shall preside over it, the Deans of the Departments or [of] Law and Social and Juridical Sciences of the Universities of the country, the President of the Directive Board of the Association of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala and the President of the Tribunal of Honor of the that association [Colegio].
The election of the candidates requires the vote of at least the two-thirds part of the members of the Commission.
In the elections [votaciones], to make up the Nominating Commission as well as to make up the nómina of candidates, no representation whatsoever will be accepted.
The Attorney General of the Nation will remain four years in the exercise of his [or her] functions and shall have the same privileges and immunities as the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice. The President of the Republic can remove him [or her] for a duly established justified cause.
Article 252. The Office of the Procurator General of the Nation
The Office of the Procurator General of the Nation [Procuraduría General de la Nación] has at its charge [cargo] the advisory and consultative activities for the state organs and entities. Its organization and functioning is regulated by its organic law.
The Procurator General of the Nation exercises the representation of the State and is the Head of the Office of the Procurator General of the Nation. The Procurator General of the Nation will be appointed by the President of the Republic, who will also be able to remove him [or her] on account of a duly established justified cause. To be the Procurator General of the Nation, the candidate must be a collegiate lawyer and to have the same qualities corresponding to a magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The Procurator General of the Nation will remain four years in the exercise of his [or her] functions and shall have the same privileges and immunities as the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.
CHAPTER VII. [The] Municipal Regime
Article 253. [The] Municipal Autonomy
The municipalities of the Republic of Guatemala are autonomous institutions.
It corresponds to them to, among other functions:
- To elect their own authorities;
- To obtain and dispose of their resources; and
- To attend to the local public services, the territorial order of their jurisdiction, and the fulfillment of their own objectives.
For the corresponding effects they will issue the appropriate orders and regulations.
Article 254. [The] Municipal Government
The municipal government shall be administered by a council, which is comprised of the mayor, the representatives [síndicos], and the councilmen [concejales], elected directly by universal and secret suffrage for a period of four years, [and] who may be reelected.
Article 255. [The] Economic Resources of the Municipality
The municipal corporations must procure the economic strengthening of their respective municipalities in order to be able to conduct the projects and render those services that may be necessary for them.
The collection [captación] of resources must be adjusted to the principle established in Article 239 of this Constitution, to the law and the needs of the municipalities.
Article 256.
[Abrogated by Legislative Accord No. 18-93 of 17 November 1993]
Article 257. Allocation for the Municipalities
The Executive Organ shall annually include in the General Budget of [the] Ordinary Revenues of the State, ten percent of it for the municipalities of the country. This percentage shall be distributed in the form established by the law and at least ninety percent shall be allocated to educational, preventative health, infrastructure and public services programs and projects that improve the quality of life of the inhabitants. The remaining ten percent shall be used to finance costs of functioning.
Any additional allocation for the municipalities within the General Budget of [the] Revenues and Expenditures of the State, which does not originate from the distribution of the percentages that by the law corresponds to [each of] them from specific taxes[,] is prohibited.
Article 258. Right of [the] Mayors to [a] Preliminary Hearing
The Mayors may not be arrested or tried, without a prior finding of cause by the competent judicial authority, except in cases of flagrante delicto.
Article 259. Court of Municipal Affairs
For the execution of their ordinances and the fulfillment of their provisions, the municipalities may create, in accordance with the law, their Court of Municipal Affairs and their Police Corps in accordance with their resources and necessities, which shall function under the direct orders of the mayor.
Article 260. Privileges and Guarantees of [the] Municipal Assets [Bienes]
The assets, revenues, assessments, and taxes are the exclusive property of the municipality and will enjoy the same guarantees and privileges as [the] property of the State.
Article 261. Prohibitions Against Exemption from Taxes or Municipal Assessments
No organ of the State has the faculty to exempt natural or juridical persons from taxes or municipal assessments, except for the municipalities themselves and in accordance with what is established by this Constitution.
Article 262. [The] Law of [the] Municipal Service
The labor relations of the functionaries and employees of the municipalities, will be regulated by the Law of [the] Municipal Service [Ley de Servicio Municipal].
