The president of the Junta Central Electoral warned that if the President signs into law the bill that would create the Province of Santo Domingo it would be like throwing away all the time and resources invested so far to introduce the electoral districts in the May 2002 election. The Junta Central Electoral (JCE) says it will not respect the law that created the new province of Santo Domingo, its districts and municipalities. Manuel Ramon Morel Cerda argued that the bill that splits the National District into Santo Domingo de Guzman and the Province of Santo Domingo clashes with Article 79 of Electoral law 275-97 and the resolutions that create nine electoral districts in the National District. He said, in light of the fact there are only seven months left before the elections, the JCE would not able to implement the new territorial divisions in the newly created province of Santo Domingo in time for the May 2002 election. Morel Cerda said that it is a euphemism to say that the law will go into effect after the election of May 2002 because the Constitution establishes that once a bill is passed by the National Congress the Executive Branch can only do two things: convert it into law for its immediate application or veto it. Opponents of the bill say that the decision will cost taxpayers thousands more for the new bureaucracy to operate the four new municipalities and the new provincial governor’s office. There are little expectations the so-called decentralization of the communities within the National District and the capital city will result in benefits to the population outside of to those who will be newly employed.
