MANAGUA – The opposition shut down Nicaragua’s legislature Tuesday to protest a court ruling that clears the way for President Daniel Ortega to seek re-election in 2011.

The 47 opposition members of the 92-seat assembly showed up for the session but refused to officially register, denying the governing Sandinistas a quorum.

The 38 Sandinista lawmakers and their allies were in the chamber for a total of 42, five less than the minimum needed to open a plenary session, Alba Palacios, second secretary of congress, told Efe.

The opposition bloc, consisting of the Liberal Party and several small groupings, told a press conference that they decided not to sign into the chamber in protest against the Oct. 19 decision by a Supreme Court panel.

The high court’s Constitutional Chamber declared “inapplicable” the article of the Nicaraguan Constitution that places term limits on the president, vice president and mayors while exempting most other elected officials.

Although it was initially reported that the ruling had to be confirmed by the full 15-member court, Deputy Chief Justice Rafael Solis – a member of Ortega’s Sandinista Party – said Tuesday that “the ruling is an unappealable judgment, it’s been ruled upon.”

But Chief Justice Manuel Martinez, allied with the main opposition Liberals, told reporters that the ruling was invalid on procedural grounds.

Complaining of an “ambush,” he said the three Liberal members of the Constitutional Chamber were not notified in time to attend the session and that their places were filled by three Sandinista substitutes.

The head of the Liberals in congress, Ramon Gonzalez, told Efe that the opposition also refused to make up a quorum as a way of pressuring assembly speaker Rene Nuñez to accept an “immediate meeting” to discuss a law that declares null and void the judicial decision.

In the National Assembly a debate is pending on the 2010 budget bill and a tax reform that has been criticized by the opposition and the business community.

Nuñez has called another plenary session for Wednesday to try and restart the work of legislation if a sufficient number of lawmakers are in attendance.

The controversial court ruling concerns Article 147 of the Nicaraguan Constitution, which bars re-election of a sitting president or vice president and limits a head of state to a total of two terms.

Ortega, who began his second presidential term on Jan. 10, 2007, and is due to step down in January 2011, has been unable to obtain the 56 votes needed to allow a constitutional reform in Congress.

In the face of that obstacle, Ortega decided to pursue a judicial remedy by filing a motion before the CSE electoral tribunal, which in turn referred the matter to the Supreme Court.

Ortega previously governed Nicaragua from 1979-1990, initially as leader of the Sandinista movement that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza and subsequently as the country’s elected president. EFE