On September 30th, Nueva Constitución CR political party achieved it: the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) accepted the request to call a referendum to determine whether a new Constitution is necessary in Costa Rica or not.
One of the promoters of this initiative, Alex Solís, described the proposal as necessary, and he assures that this is the best time to create a reform that modernizes the current Constitution, which was promulgated on November 7th, 1949.
Vladimir de la Cruz agrees with the proposal and assures that by doing it, population will decide whether a draft for a new constitution is necessary or not. According to him, it is time to start a discussion and the Constituent Assembly would have well-prepared legislators.
In addition, legislator Ottón Solís supports the initiative. He argues that due to the current situation of the country, citizens could be in favor of a measure that could improve the national reality.
Furthermore, politician Rolando Araya believes that the country needs a change in its political system, which involves changes in the constitution. However, Araya is not sure whether a Constituent Assembly is the best option if there are not high-level ideas.
However, according to former president Abel Pacheco, the proposal is unnecessary and the country should focus on problems like the fiscal deficit. In addition, a referendum would be very expensive.
Legislator Otto Guevara was more critical of the proposal and he stated that he is in favor of partial reforms, however he thinks that convening the constituent power can be dangerous, since it could not place limits on the constituent representatives.
Solís proposes that the Constituent Assembly is composed by 61 constituent representatives: 35 will be chosen by national lists and 26 by provincial lists. The referendum will take place in July, 2019.