The proposed reform to electoral law that has already compounded the divisions in the ruling PRD party now threatens to divide those who had been championing it. The Ley de Lemas, or Preferential Presidential Vote, is being pushed through the legislative process by the PPH, the PRD faction promoting President Hipolito Mejia’s re-election ambitions. The bill would allow each party to present up to five candidates at this May’s Presidential election, and is seen by its supporters as a solution to the bitter divisions within the PRD which have left the party unable to select a Presidential candidate representative of the entire party. The bill’s detractors see it as a means of President Mejia guaranteeing his continuity in power, as the bill would potentially allow him to mop up his PRD rivals’ votes to secure an overall majority for his candidacy. Others explain that there is no time to implement it and see it as a way to abort the elections, and thus ensure that Mejia continues in government.
The bill has met with widespread resistance across many spheres of society, and now it appears to have hit the rocks in the shape of a dispute between its supporters in the Senate, where it was due to have been ratified yesterday. Anibal Garcia Duverge, who heads the Senate committee appointed to study the law, resigned from this post yesterday over the question of whether Senate leader Jesus Vasquez should have applied to the Supreme Court to have the bill assessed for its constitutionality. Garcia Duverge is reported to be annoyed about not having been consulted prior to this move. Vasquez suspended the Senate session pending the Supreme Court’s decision, despite protests from a group of senators who wanted to vote there and then. It is unusual for the Supreme Court to give an opinion on a bill that has yet to pass in Congress.
Observers say that this reduces the chances of the approval and implementation of the controversial proposed Ley de Lemas. Some observers also comment that now that he has been chosen presidential candidate of the PRD, President Mejia has no real interest in the passing of the bill. On the contrary, there is always the threat that another PRD contender could receive more votes than he.
Tirso Mejia Ricart, who heads the Committee for State Reform (Conare), defended the proposed electoral reform bill before the Supreme Court yesterday. He accepted that it had been rejected in many quarters, while insisting it was the best solution to the crisis within the political parties. He said it would help prevent the DR going the same way as countries like Venezuela and Peru, “where the traditional parties have lost credibility and strength at the expense of the democratic system.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) continues to question, albeit tentatively, the logistical implications of changing the voting system so close to the Presidential elections, scheduled for the 16 May. Nelson Gomez, the judge who heads the administrative chamber of the JCE, said yesterday that should the Ley de Lemas be passed, the whole organization of the elections would have to be redesigned. He declined to express an opinion on the proposed bill, saying that was a matter for the politicians.