The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has announced it will be presenting a project to back the modernization of the political party system in the Dominican Republic.
The UNDP plans to promote the approval of a Political Parties Bill to modernize the way Dominican political parties manage themselves, according to the United Nations System representative in the Dominican Republic Lorenzo Jimenez de Luis, in an interview with Diario Libre.
The proposal was drafted by Uruguayan political experts Miguel Manzi and Juan Rial. The aim is to modernize the structure of the political parties so they can be true spaces for dialogue. They say that their goal is to prevent the Dominican Republic from losing its democratic structure because of the “sclerosis of the parties.”
They point out that the country has an Electoral Law, but compared the situation to the country having a four-lane highway system with perfectly paved roads with 19th century cars.
Jimenez said the Political Parties Bill needed to be drafted by Dominicans, and that they just want to help. “It is sad that it is the only country in all the hemisphere that doesn’t have a Political Parties Law.”
At present Dominican taxpayers pay billions to support a political patronage system that is seen as lacking accountability. Furthermore, recent internal factional political clashes have diminished the influence of opposition political parties, making political patronage even more prevalent. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report lists public trust in politicians at 143 of 146 countries ranked. Other indicators of the prevailing political patronage in that report are the country ranking 145th in favoritism in decisions by government officials, and 138th in wasteful government spending.
www.diariolibre.com/destacada/2014/03/17/i528061_queremos-modernizar-los-partidos.html
www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2013-14.pdf