Abstract

SARRAZIN, Jean Paul  and  REDONDO, Saira Pilar. Conceptual uncertainty in the State. Controversies about the age of eligibility for certain popularly elected offices. Opin. jurid. [online]. 2017, vol.16, n.32, pp.211-227. ISSN 1692-2530.  https://doi.org/10.22395/ojum.v16n32a9.

This article examines the age requirement as a condition for access to certain public offices and public corporations of popular election in Colombia. A tour of the constitutional rules, laws and some jurisprudence that have been produced on this subject is proposed. In particular, it investigates whether the legislature has the power to determine the age of deputies in the country, noting, for example, the persistence of misinterpretation of the rules on the subject. It is also evident that, in practice, some official institutions publicly affirm that the minimum age for access to the Departmental Assembly is 25 years of age, which is higher than that stipulated in the Constitution. The case of deputies is compared to some controversies about the age of councillors, which allows problematizing the diversity of perspectives and cultural relativity of these concepts. This concludes that there are confusions and irregularities at the institutional level regarding the age requirement, which has serious consequences, since the political rights of Colombian citizens are being violated.

Keywords : active citizenship; human rights; political rights; participation.

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