The dean of law at the PUCMM campus in Santo Domingo, Flavio Dario Espinal, writes in today’s El Caribe that one of the last laws issued by former President Hipolito Mejia was a bad idea, perhaps a very bad idea. The law, which established the system of primary elections for all political parties in the Dominican Republic, is rooted in the idea of “guaranteeing the internal democracy” of the political organizations in their selection process of candidates for presidential, congressional and municipal office. Although the intentions were good, the lawyer-dean says that it was a poorly conceived scheme, even with the recent experiences of the PRD and the PRSC parties to reflect on. Of the various aspects of the legislation that are problematic, one is the minute possibility of avoiding any constitutional scrutiny, since the law goes against the freedom to freely organize themselves and the judicial nature of political parties. These groups are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to plan and run their internal affairs, as well to dictate their political philosophy. Among other problems, the most important is the fact that the law is based on the illusion that legal norms have the capacity to tame certain realities, and convert entities into democratic institutions that have failed to do so of their own accord. Another serious defect is contained in the practical aspects related to the law which establishes that all parties’ primaries will be held on the same day. Espinal doesn’t think that a uniform electoral process can be handled by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) concurrently. Espinal opines that what is strange about this law is that it comes from the same political leanings that was proposed the “Law of Slogans” (Ley de Lemas) as a solution to the internal crisis that hit the PRD. Espinal finishes by saying that, just as before, the politicians believed a law could make up for a lack of vision and a lack of a willingness of a good part of the Dominican political leadership and solve their internal problems by negotiation and a respect for party norms.