Constitution of Paraguay

The Constitutional Governmental Regulations contained seventeen articles, providing for a government by headed by two consuls, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia and Fulgencio Yegros.

Recognizing the importance of the military in the embattled country, the framers gave each consul the rank of brigadier general and divided the armed forces and arsenals equally between them.

However within ten years of adoption the Constitutional Governmental Regulations, both Consul Yegros and the Paraguayan legislature had been eliminated and Francia ruled directly until his death in 1840.

At the end of the disastrous Paraguayan War (1865–1870), a constituent assembly adopted a new constitution in November 1870, which, with amendments, remained in force for seventy years.

The constitution was based on principles of popular sovereignty, separation of powers, and a bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives.

Although its tenor was more democratic than the two previous constitutions, extensive power over the government and society in general remained in the hands of the president.

[1] On February 18, 1940 President José Felix Estigarribia responded to a political stalemate by dissolving Congress and assuming emergency powers.

He could intervene in the economy, control the press, suppress private groups, suspend individual liberties, and take exceptional actions for the good of the state.

He also had the power to declare a state of siege, which allowed him to suspend civil liberties in either the entire country or a portion of it for 90 days.

A new advisory Council of State was created, modeled on the experience of corporatist Italy and Portugal, to represent group interests including business, farmers, bankers, the military, and the Roman Catholic Church.

For example, Article 111 stipulates that "The suffrage is the right, duty, and public function of the voter... Its exercise will be obligatory within the limits to be established by law, and nobody could advocate or recommend electoral abstention."

This chapter also specified five obligations of citizens, including obedience to the constitution and laws, defense of the country, and employment in legal activities.

Within five days of declaring a state of siege, the president was required to notify Congress of his reasons for doing so, the rights being restricted, and the portion(s) of the country where it applied.

Per the provisions of the 1967 Constitution, Rodríguez assumed power as interim president and was elected later that year to serve the balance of Stroessner's eighth term.

The ban on any sort of presidential reelection has become so entrenched that protests ensued in 2017 when the legislature deliberated an amendment that would have allowed a president to run for a second five-year term, even if it is nonconsecutive.