The news daily Listin Diario reports that the Reformista Party (PRSC) and the Central Elections Board (JCE) have worked out a compromise to resolve the five-month political battle over the JCE. Under the formula worked out between PRSC President Donald Reid Cabral and JCE Chairman Ram?n Morel Cerda, the number of JCE members would be expanded from five to seven, and two prior members – Luis Mora Guzm?n and Alejandro Asmar S?nchez – would be appointed to the new seats. The two were part of the JCE which organized successful and trouble-free elections in 1996 (presidential) and 1998 (local and Congressional), and thus are deemed trustworthy by the PRSC. The crisis involving the JCE started last August, when the Senate, controlled by the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), appointed the current five JCE members without first consulting other political parties, as had been done before appointing the prior Board. The PRSC swiftly challenged the appointments in court, claiming that several members, including the new Chairman, were PRD activists and therefore could not be impartial as the law calls for. At the same time the PLD-controlled Executive Branch also protested the lack of consensus about JCE appointments and began to withhold budget disbursements, effectively impeding the work of the Board.
