Today sees the Preferential Presidential Vote electoral reform bill’s last chance of approval by the Chamber of Deputies, with the odds stacked against its success. The Central Electoral Board (JCE) informed deputies yesterday that the proposed law, also known as the Ley de Lemas, would be difficult and costly to implement in time for the May Presidential elections. All related materials and documentation would have to be redone and additional personnel recruited, who would have to be retrained, along with existing electoral officials. In addition, the voting public would have to be educated about the new system. All computer software would have to be redesigned and new equipment acquired for this purpose. A document addressed to the lower Chamber the JCE states that “the time is not right” with just 46 days to go. JCE president Luis Arias added that the consensus of all political parties was needed for electoral reform to be effective. The document is signed by all nine JCE judges and does not deal so much with the legal and Constitutional aspects of the proposed law as with its practical and logistical implications. The judges called on deputies to act with sensitivity when considering this issue. Yesterday’s attempt to pass the law through Congress ended in a walkout of PLD and PRSC legislators as well as those PRD deputies loyal to ousted party president Hatuey Decamps, leaving the session without the required quorum of 75 deputies. With a total of 104 boycotting the vote, just 46 deputies were left in the Chamber, 42 of whom are believed to be PPH (campaign for President Hipolito Mejia’s re-election) supporters. The three main parties have had the candidacies of Hipolito Mejia, Eduardo Estrella and Leonel Fernandez recognized by the JCE as official candidates for the 16 May election.