For the fifth consecutive week, no regular legislative business has been conducted at either the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies. The legislators of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) are the majority in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. They are divided between those that favor amending the Constitution to enable President Danilo Medina to run for a third term and followers of former President Leonel Fernández who are against any amendment. Fernández seeks to be the party’s presidential candidate in the 2020 election. This would be Medina’s second consecutive constitutional reform.
For months, followers of Medina have been lobbying to get enough votes to push through the constitutional amendment that would remove the transitory paragraph that impedes Medina from running for a third term. Medina followers have also spoken up in favor of unifying the municipal election that is set for 16 February 2020 with the congressional and presidential election that is set for 17 May 2020.
Followers of former President Leonel Fernández stand by the agreement that delivered the 2015 Constitution that enabled Medina to run for President in 2016, but at the same time bans him from running for President again. Fernández followers say an internal congress would need to be convened to change what was established in the 2015 pact between Medina and Fernández.
Constitutional reform is also rejected by a majority of PRM legislators. This has impeded the Medina lobby from reaching the number of votes needed to convene the National Revisory Assembly to start the process to amend the 2015 Constitution.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
10 July 2019