After meeting yesterday, President Hipolito Mejia and the president of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, Hatuey de Camps announced they were in favor of an openly debating constitutional reform. They would like former Presidents Joaquin Balaguer, Salvador Jorge Blanco and Leonel Fernández to participate in the talks, alongside with representatives of churches, political parties and civic society organizations. De Camps said that the plans to reform the Constitution would not modify the structure of the Supreme Court of Justice. According to a Senate proposal for constitutional reform announced yesterday by Dario Gomez (PRD-Santiago Rodriguez), there would be changes in the duration of the judges, the attributes of the President, perpetual jail sentence, chemical castration of sexual violators of minors, among other changes. It also establishes that a simple majority of 45% would be necessary to win the presidency without having to go to a second round, or a 10 point percentual difference between the first and second position. Sociologist Rosario Espinal, participating in a Workshop on Electoral Reforms held at the Hotel Renaissance Jaragua yesterday, said that there are not the conditions for Congress or a special assembly to carry out the reform. She says that Congress is not representative of the different sectors of society because it is controlled by a single party, the incumbent party. She is the director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA.
