In a ruling published today, the Supreme Court lifted last week’s precautionary measure suspending elections in Tucumán province. The opposition politician who filed a legal objection to current Governor Juan Manzur’s run for vice governor has not withdrawn his complaint. However, the Court cited Manzur’s withdrawal as a candidate as reason enough to lift the suspension. 

Local opposition mayor Germán Enrique Alfaro filed an amparo (writ of protection) in April claiming that it was unconstitutional for Manzur to run again. In its preliminary ruling published last week, the Supreme Court agreed, saying that his candidacy not only violated article 90 of the Tucumán constitution but also articles one and five of the National Constitution which establish the “republican principle of alternation of power.” 

The gubernatorial elections were suspended by the Court as a precautionary measure and Manzur later signed a decree canceling the elections across all categories. Tucumán then requested that the precautionary measure be lifted. According to today’s ruling, Alfaro refused to drop the amparo, but the Court stated that it would nevertheless lift the suspension.

“Article 202 of the National Code of Civil Procedure establishes that ‘precautionary measures will subsist while the circumstances that determined them endure’,” said the ruling. “Given the resignation from the impugned candidacy […] it follows that we should grant Tucumán province’s request for the measure to be lifted.”

The Court has not published a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of Manzur’s candidacy.

Now that the measure has been lifted, this opens the way for Tucumán to reschedule the elections, which Manzur had suggested could happen on June 25 if given the go-ahead. He will be replaced on the ballot by Miguel Acevedo, the province’s current interior minister.

This is not the only re-election bid put on hold by the Supreme Court — last week San Juan’s Governor Sergio Uñac was declared ineligible to run for a third consecutive term. 
An opposition deputy and a political group in Formosa province also filed similar requests yesterday against Governor Gildo Insfrán. The Formosa constitution does not specify how many times a governor can run for reelection. Insfrán, if re-elected, would be running for his eighth term. The Court has yet to respond.