Both houses of Congress elected their respective presidents for the new legislative term beginning 16 August. As had been agreed upon in a previous accord, the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC) and the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) supported each other to divide control of the Congress and form the opposition to newly sworn in President Leonel Fernández of the Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana. In the Chamber of Deputies, Rafael Peguero Mendez of the PRD was elected president of the lower house with the support of PRSC deputies, while the PRD senators helped Amable Aristy Castro of the PRSC in his re-election as president of the Senate.
The control of Congress by the PRSC and the PRD would seem to preserve the power and influence in national politics of those party’s leaders, Dr. Joaquín Balaguer and Dr. Jose Francisco Peña Gómez, respectively. Dr Balaguer and Dr. Peña Gómez would seem to have an advantageous position to influence the choosing of Supreme Court judges by the National Council of Magistrates, which will contain four members of Congress. Those members include the presidents of the two houses and a member of the opposition party of each. With the control of Congress and the almost total loyalty of the PRSC and PRD legislators to their party leaders, Dr. Balaguer and Dr. Peña Gómez could be key players in the selection of the judges, the cornerstone of judicial power in the D.R.