Eduardo Estrella, the president of the Senate, is sure to be on the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM), the national judicial council. Who will be the second senator is a trending topic. The CNM is responsible for appointing the justices of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), the Constitutional Court (TC) and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Several justices in these courts need to be chosen in the coming months, including four of the Constitutional Court.
The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) has controlled the CNM for years, enabling it to decide who got named on the higher courts. Now, the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) has won majority in both the Executive and Legislative branches of government and the party expects to influence the selection of new judges in these important courts.
The 2015 Constitution in Art. 178 establishes:
The National Judicial Council (National Council of the Magistracy) is composed of:
The President of the Republic (or the Vice President)
The president of the Senate
A senator chosen by the Senate, belonging to a political party or bloc of parties different from the one of the president of the Senate and representing the party or bloc with the second-most number of seats in the Senate
The president of the Chamber of Deputies
A deputy chosen by the Chamber of Deputies, belonging to a political party or block of parties different from the one of the president of the Chamber of Deputies and representing the party or bloc with the second-most number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies
The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Justice
An associate justice of the Supreme Court of Justice, chosen by the Supreme Court, who shall act as secretary
The attorney general (who is chosen by the President of the Republic)
All the above is quite straight-forward. Yet, with Eduardo Estrella being elected to preside the Senate, different people are interpreting the Constitution in different ways. Faride Raful, voice for the PRM in the Senate, argues that Estrella is of another party. Yet, while he won the senate seat on the Dominicanos por el Cambio (DxC) ballot, he ran with the backing of the PRM, the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) and the People’s Force (FP). The latter is the spinoff party created at last minute when the PLD split between those loyal to Danilo Medina and those loyal to Leonel Fernández.
The FP is hopeful it will get the second seat. With the start of the new legislature, the People’s Force grabbed the second largest number of senators in the Senate. Felix Bautista (PLD-San Juan de la Maguana) and Dioni Sanchez (PLD-Pedernales) announced they were moving to the People’s Force (FP). The FP now has eight senators, making it by number of seats the second political party after the PRM.
The largest opposition party in the Dominican Republic today is the former ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). The PLD voices say the FP was part of the same bloc of political parties that backed Eduardo Estrella. This would disqualify them from opting to be the second largest political party. The PLD voices argue it is the PLD that fits the constitutional definition of “the second political party or bloc of parties different from the one of the president of the Senate and representing the party or bloc with the second-most number of seats in the Senate”.
If the PLD wins the case, the ruling PRM and bloc of parties would have four members/votes in the National Council of the Magistracy (President Luis Abinader, senator Eduardo Estrella, deputy Alfredo Pacheco and Attorney General Miriam German). The PLD would have three member/votes (chief justice Luis Henry Molina, a deputy and eventually the secretary of the Supreme Court of Justice. The PF would have one member/vote.
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N Digital
Noticias SIN
19 August 2020