Leyla Lemus assumes the last presidency of the eighth magistracy of the CC

Judge Leyla Lemus assumes today the presidency of the Constitutional Court (CC). He will have under his responsibility the administrative management of a court that will make fundamental decisions in the judicial and political elections of 2026.

Lemus receives the presidency of the CC of Judge Nester Vásquez Pimentel, who, at the discretion of supervisory organizations, has promoted a political agenda from the interior of the Court.
One of the most weight of the current magistracy was taken in 2022, when he ordered the inclusion of María Consuelo Porras in the payroll of candidates for attorney general and head of the Public Ministry (MP). He also influenced the elected authorities to assume the charges in January 2024, and has stopped some legislative decisions, with the exception of the salary increase of the deputies.

The new president of the CC is considered a trusted person and close to former president Alejandro Giammattei, who has been appointed by the United States and the United Kingdom as an actor linked to acts of corruption and antidemocratic actions.

Lemus was General Secretary of the Presidency of Giammattei from 2020 to 2021. Subsequently, the then president appointed her head of the CC.

The Political window of magistrate Vásquez

Lemus receives the Court from the Magistrate Vásquez. At the discretion of Carmen Aída Ibarra, director of the Pro Justicia Movement, Vásquez used the position to exercise power and influence different spheres of political and judicial life.

“We have a character who, as he occupies the position, generates power. It was not characterized by union or political leadership, but knows how to use the power quota in hand,” said Ibarra.
During the passage of Vásquez through the CC, some legal actions were scheduled that affected the current government party, seed movement, unlike other cases whose analysis by the court occupied more time for a decision to be made, as happened with the consultations related to the confidentiality of the collective pact of the teaching and most resources against the increase in the salary of the deputies.

“Nester Vásquez is the magistrate of the Court who has highlighted the most of the agency of the pro corruption pact,” said the analyst.

Likewise, Juan Pablo Muñoz, from Alliance for the Reforms, judged the passage of Vásquez through the CC. “You have to remember that it reached his position thanks to the MP attack against his opponent (Estuardo Gálvez); also, who used his position to interfere with the choice of cuts in 2024, which is illegitimate and illegal.”

Vásquez fired his presidency in an act where the press was not invited and in which the presentation of a work report was announced. The photographs show the outgoing president accompanied by several officials of the Justice sector and congressmen.

This report was not released on the website of the CC and, when required the Social Communication team of the Court, they did not share it.

From weeks prior to his inauguration, this morning requested an interview with Judge Lemus, who said he would examine his agenda, but it was not possible to specify an appointment to address his plans for the Court, his expectations, his challenges, the citizen accusations about their proximity to Giammattei, among other matters.

The previous presidents of the current magistracy – Roberto Molina Barreto, Dina Ochoa and Nester Vásquez – did agree to grant interviews before their possession shots as presidents.

Expectations Around the presidency of Leyla Lemus

Ibarra is clear in considering that there will be no difference between the agenda that Vásquez promoted and the one that Lemus would be promoting as president.

“It is not that, because Nester Vásquez comes out, all the bad is over; Leyla Lemus also embodies the interests and represents the procorruption agenda. What happens is that she has tried to maintain a certain distance now, but that does not erase all her committed career,” he said.

Lemus will be in charge of evaluating with what priority the different legal actions that imply the renewal process of the Attorney General and Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), which are renewed next year.

“That will be a terrible period of political tension, and much of that tension will reach the CC to make the final decisions,” said Ibarra.

Muñoz, meanwhile, does not have high expectations in Lemus for the shadow of Giammattei that weighs on her. “As for Leyla Lemus, we must remember that she has had a close relationship with former president Giammattei, being the case that several of her relatives have had and still have control of various public entities,” Muñoz concluded.

Benefit of the doubt

At the discretion of Pablo Guerra, Coordinator of Citizen Participation of the National Civic Movement (MC), it is necessary to give the benefit of the doubt to the future president of the Constitutional Court (CC), since it considers that Leyla Lemus now has the opportunity to demonstrate an objective defense of the Magna Carta.
“We hope that the new president of the CC has an absolute commitment to the Constitution and that guarantees independence and respect for the republican principles that we have as a country. We hope that its management is remembered not for whom she defended, but for her defense” of the supreme law.

Guerra also expects the new president to prioritize the points of the country agenda that were ignored by magistrate Nester Vásquez.
“There were controversial resolutions and there were also issues that had to be known, but that rescheduled and letting time pass. Only we have pending actions against the secret of the collective education pact, but also the increase in salary of the deputies,” he said.