DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

Napoleón Estévez / Diario Libre

The Constitutional Court (TC) has declared unconstitutional a provision that had allowed the President of the Republic to fill vacant mayoral positions, asserting that the power infringes upon the constitutional right of citizens to elect their leaders. The ruling, sentence TC/0446/25, specifically targets Paragraph I of Article 64 of Law 176-07 on the National District and Municipalities, Diario Libre reports.

The court has urged Congress to instead develop a new mechanism within one year to address mayoral vacancies when the vice-mayor is unable to assume the role.

The now-invalidated Paragraph I of Article 64 stipulated that if a mayoral vacancy occurred and there was no vice-mayor to step in, the municipal council president would appeal to the President of the Republic for an appointment, following constitutional...