Constitution

Guatemala 1985 Constitution (reviewed 1993)

Table of Contents

TITLE VII. Reforms to the Constitution

SOLE CHAPTER. Reforms to the Constitution

Article 277. Initiative

The following have the initiative to propose reforms to the Constitution:

  1. The President of the Republic in the Council of Ministers;
  2. Ten or more deputies to the Congress of the Republic;
  3. The Court of Constitutionality; and
  4. The people [el pueblo] through a petition directed to the Congress of the Republic, by not fewer than five thousand citizens duly registered [empadronados] in the Registry of Citizens.

In any of the above-mentioned cases, the Congress of the Republic must address the raised issue without any delay.

Article 278. National Constituent Assembly

In order to reform this or any Article contained in Chapter I of Title II of this Constitution, it is indispensable that the Congress of the Republic, with the affirmative vote of the two-thirds part of the members that integrate it, to convoke a National Constituent Assembly. In the decree of convocation[,] the Article or Articles to be reformed shall be specified[,] and it shall be communicated to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal so that it may determine the date when the elections will be held within the maximum deadline of one hundred twenty days, proceeding in the other respects in accordance with the Constitutional Electoral Law.

Article 279. [The] Deputies to the National Constituent Assembly

The National Constituent Assembly and the Congress of the Republic may function simultaneously. The qualities required to be [a] deputy to the National Constituent Assembly are the same as those that are required to be a deputy of the Congress, and the constituent deputies shall enjoy equal immunities and privileges.

One may not be[,] simultaneously[,] a deputy to the National Constituent Assembly and to the Congress of the Republic.

The elections of [the] deputies to the National Constituent Assembly, the number of deputies to be elected, and the other related questions, [together] with the electoral process will be governed in equal form as for the elections to the Congress of the Republic.

Article 280. Reforms by the Congress and [the] Popular Consultation

For any other constitutional reform, it will be necessary for the Congress of the Republic to approve it with an affirmative vote of the two-thirds part of the total number of deputies. The reforms will not enter into effect unless they are ratified through the popular consultation referred to in Article 173 of this Constitution.

If the result of the popular consultation were to ratify the reform, it will enter into effect sixty days after the Supreme Electoral Court announces the result of the consultation.

Article 281. Articles Not Subject to Reform

In no case may Articles 140, 141, 165 paragraph g) , 186, and 187 be reformed, nor may any question concerning the republican form of government, [or] to the principle of the non-reelection for the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic[,] be raised in any form, neither may the effectiveness or application of the Articles that provide for alternating the tenure of the Presidency of the Republic be suspended or their content [be] changed or modified in any other way.