President Luis Abinader risks being the big loser if he continues to back a referendum to decide if the three grounds for abortion are approved for the Dominican Republic, says Nelson Espinal, a national expert on negotiating.
Espinal sees the President would be losing an exceptional opportunity to consolidate his political leadership. “When people vote for a person, they are delegating power to that person to lead for the next four years. He would be yielding the power he received from the voters,” he said.
Espinal remarked on La Cuestión radio talk show on Super7FM that the Abinader administration would be the big loser if a polarization climate develops over the abortion issue. “He would be losing political consensus, the middle point, the balance, democratic dialogue,” he remarks.
He is clear that the three grounds are already a middle point between the two extreme positions on abortion and because of this have been accepted in 196 countries around the world and rejected in only five, including the Dominican Republic.
Espinal said the referendum instead would bring polarization and make it difficult for the government to build consensus on difficult future issues such as constitutional reform and fiscal reform.
Espinal finds it hard to understand why President Abinader is backing the referendum to decide the issue when all political party leaders, including himself, have already stated they favor the three grounds.
And the President has already exercised his power in previous hot topics in Congress – such as the incentives law for border provinces and child marriage, among others, with very positive outcomes.
In the Dominican Republic, the referendum has not yet been used nor has the ruling for its application passed in Congress. Furthermore, it is very costly to carry out a referendum if this is not held together with a general election.
In an opinion piece on the matter published in Diario Libre on 24 March 2021, Espinal makes the point: “Referendums, regularly, divide and polarize peoples.” He says people in the Dominican Republic would not be voting in favor or against abortion. In the referendum, people would be voting for what is already a middle point – the three grounds for abortion. “That is, the three grounds are the meeting point between those who defend free abortion and those who are totally against it,” he writes. “It is the space where both give in some and both meet as citizens. Not where they are divided as saints and sinners.”
Espinal warned that when the government delegates its leadership to a referendum, it is opening the way for future conflicts. “It is superficially deciding and exacerbating conflicts that could surface for other reasons, in a violent way in the future,” he warns. Come 2023 or 2025, the country could pay the price.
He says this is an opportunity for the President to unify the national leadership around his mandate. “He has a golden opportunity to unify the nation around his mandate because the three opposition parties – Leonel Fernandez of Fuerza del Pueblo, Danilo Medina of the PLD and Guillermo Moreno of Alianza Pais are all in agreement with the three grounds. He will be losing an extraordinary opportunity if he yields his power to a referendum,” he remarked when asked to comment on La Cuestión.
Espinal observed that Abinader has to be coherent in his presenting himself as a modern statesman. If the President drives an electric car, how can the Dominican Republic be one of the last five countries to approve the grounds for abortion?
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24 March 2021