National Business Council (CONEP) has called the proposed Ley de Lemas (Bill of
Slogans) that would permit several candidates of the same political party to run
for election simultaneously ?inconvenient, inopportune and unconstitutional?.
Rather than instate this highly controversial electoral mechanism, CONEP
suggests that the political parties solve their differences internally.
According their press release, the proposal merely seeks solutions to individual
problems and ?is far removed from the major problems that the nation is facing.?
According to Hoy, the business association document points out additionally that
the Ley de Lemas has not solved the problems in the countries where it has been
implemented, promoting instead the internal divisions of the political parties.
The proposal by Harry Sarraf, a PRD deputy, has been rejected by the Central
Electoral Board judges, including Luis Arias, the board?s president, the PLD,
the PRSC, civic group Participation Ciudadana, and even certain leaders of the
PRD. The much-read column ?Qu? se dice? (?What they?re saying?) opines that the
proponents of the legislation are ?blind and deaf to anything outside their own
stingy interests.? For background notes on this legislation, see
http://www.dr1.com/news/2004/010604_leydelemas.shtml