The controversial Ley de Lemas, or Proyecto de Voto Preferencial Preferencial, is now under study in the Senate, after being removed from the Chamber of Deputies. Proponents of the electoral reform said the move’s aim was to give the Chamber of Deputies more time to study it informally. Of the 32 total senators, only two represent opposition parties. El Caribe reported that Puerto Plata’s PRD Senator Tomas Emilio Duran took the bill authored by Tirso Mejia Ricart from the Chamber of Deputies to the Senate. During a Senate work session, the bill was sent to a special commission presided over by Anibal Garcia Duverge, who is a PRD senator of the PPH faction that supports the re-election of President Hipolito Mejia. The bill has met with widespread rejection from civic society, business and opposition sectors on grounds that there is no time to implement changes in the rules to the presidential election set for 16 May 2004.