With the vote of opposition deputies from the PRM party, the Chamber of Deputies amended the Political Parties Bill received from the Senate so that it leaves up to the political parties to decide the modality and the voting list they will use to choose the candidates to elective posts for the 2020 general election. It also establishes that the parties need to renovate their directors every four years. Only 38 deputies, known to be followers of former President Leonel Fernandez, voted against. The bill received 146 positive votes or 79% in favor to 38 votes or 21% against. The bill needed the favorable vote of two thirds of the deputies.
The bill now returns to the Senate for a single reading. The Senate is controlled by legislators that are loyal to President Danilo Medina. If the senators are in agreement the bill will move to the President for his signing and publication. President of the Senate, Reinaldo Pared Perez forecast that by no later than this Friday, 10 August 2018, the country would have a Political Parties Law. The bill had been debated in Congress for around 20 years.
The bill establishes that party directors will choose the method to elect their candidates. Previously, delegates voted in primaries organized by the parties. The parties also get to choose the voter list for the selection of the elective candidates. While previously banned, this includes the general voters list of the Central Electoral Board or the open primaries modality. Quotas for young people and women are established to be no less than 40% and no greater than 60%.
It was agreed political parties can invest RD$70 per registered voter list in each candidate. The electoral campaign will include a pre-campaign period from the first Sunday in August to the first Sunday in October of the year prior to the election.
Juan Carlos Quiñonez, spokesman for the dissidents in the ruling PLD party, said that what was approved violates eight articles of the 2015 Constitution. Mentioned are articles 46, 47 and 216 of the Constitution.
Victor D’Aza, speaking for the PRM, said the opposition party voted in favor because the country needs the bill. Alfredo Pacheco, also of the PRM, said: “We did not vote for an ideal bill, but for the one that has been achieved.”
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8 August 2018
