A former president of the Colegio de Abogados, the board of lawyers in the DR, said that the new members of the Chamber of Accounts presided by Dr. Hugo Arias Fabián were illegally elected as their term expired on 16 August 1998. Fernando Hernández Díaz argued that the Constitution establishes that these be elected on 16 August, and thus the term of those that were elected on 13 August 1998 ended on 16 August. He said that the election of the members of the JCE is legal because it was done within the period established by the Constitution.
