The Political Parties and Groups Bill is now in the Presidential Palace waiting for the signature of President Danilo Medina after it was passed by the Senate on Friday, 10 August 2018. It had passed on Tuesday, 7 August in the Chamber of Deputies. According to the explanations given by the legal advisor to the President, Flavio Dario Espinal, the legislation is following the normal course and no date has been discussed for its enactment.
Yesterday, the Bishop of the Bani diocese Victor Masalles gave thanks for the passage of the legislation and said that this is the way to begin to put rules in place for the political party system. Bishop Victor Masalles also commented on the efforts of some politicians to modify the Constitution in order to allow President Medina to opt for a third, consecutive term. Masalles said that the Constitution “should not be touched further, because the people want clear rules.”
In another news story, the Diario Libre named President Danilo Medina the “Person of the Week.” In fact, it could be argued that the president did indeed have a good week. First, The National Congress passed the Political Parties and Groups Bill, and second he was able to inaugurate Line 2B of the Santo Domingo Metro.
The passage of the Law on Political Parties was particularly savory to the president since the final language in the bill was been strongly opposed by the followers of former President Leonel Fernandez. It should be noted that it took nearly 20 years for this bill to get through the Congress with some groups who had formerly oppose the bill (such as the Modern Revolutionary Party-PRM) ended up voting in favor of the legislation. It has been suggested that the PRM made a deal with the government in exchange for backing the legislation in the Chamber of Deputies where it might have stalled because of the Fernandez opposition. In the Senate, there was no problem since Medina controls a large majority of the senators.
During the inauguration of the second line of the Santo Domingo Metro a group of Danilo supporters outside the Maria Concepcion Bona Station (named after the woman who sewed the first Dominican flag) called for Medina to run for four more years.
13 August 2018
