By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, the Union of Private-Sector Chambers and Associations (UCCAEP) and others yesterday praised the Legislative Assembly's approval of a referendum decree that could send a controversial free-trade agreement to a public vote within months.

The assembly voted late Monday night to approve the decree for a nationwide vote on the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA). The decree, submitted to the assembly by the Executive Branch last week, needed 29 votes for approval; 48 legislators of the 53 present voted in favor, while five voted against, according to a statement from the assembly.

Assembly president Francisco Pacheco now has eight days to submit the decree to the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE), which will decide how to proceed with the historic referendum.

Rodrigo Arias praised the consensus reached by the assembly's four leading parties, urging Costa Ricans to vote once the referendum arrives.

In a statement, the Union of Chambers praised the legislators' “patriotism” and expressed hopes that the referendum will take place in a timely manner, given that Costa Rica risks being left out of CAFTA if it does not make a decision by March 2008.

Though all legislators say they support a referendum, some, including Oscar López, say they want it to happen not through the decree, but through citizens' collection of signatures. The TSE gave a group of citizens the right to start collecting signatures earlier this month (TT, April 13), but President Oscar Arias sent a decree to the assembly that could eliminate the signature-collection period (TT, April 20).

López yesterday filed a motion of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), alleging that the assembly approved the decree during so-called “extraordinary sessions,” instead of during “ordinary sessions” as the Referendum Law specifies, explained Emilio Granados, the Access Without Exclusion (PASE) legislator's chief of staff.

The Citizen Action Party (PAC) also yesterday released a statement announcing plans to send CAFTA itself to the Sala IV for constitutional review.