The Chamber of Deputies has elected PRD party spokesman Alfredo Pacheco (PRD-National District) to represent the Chamber of Deputies in the National Council of the Magistracy. The deputies voted 78-49 in his favor. The Council was convened to choose three new Supreme Court judges. Internal rivalry in the PRD kept the Senate from choosing its candidate to the Council yesterday. The 10 senators who back former president of the Senate, Ramon Alburquerque (PRD-Monte Plata) did not attend the session. The four PLD representatives walked out of the hall, impeding the quorum for the vote. The PRD senators want to vote for Ivan Rondon (PRI-Hato Mayor) and Jose Gonzalez (PTD-Barahona), both minority party representatives who made it into the Senate by backing the PRD candidate. Former Commissioner for the Reform and Modernization of Justice, Aura Celeste Fernandez, warned that voting for the PRD allies is contrary to the spirit of justice reform. “It is truly dangerous for our democracy, for the independence of a body such as the Supreme Court and for a branch such as the Judiciary, that only one party control the National Council of the Magistracy because democracy is the participation of all the actors,” she said.
