Former President Leonel Fernandez gave a speech yesterday analyzing the first year in government of President Luis Abinader and rejecting the proposal to reform the Constitution. The 2015 Constitution in effect enables Fernández to run for the Presidency in 2024 and impedes his rival in his former Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), former President Danilo Medina from doing so.
Fernandez did accept to participate in that discussion. He said he would participate in the discussions of 11 other reforms as requested by President Abinader as the later seeks political consensus for the reforms.
Former President Leonel Fernandez has been positioning himself to be the politician this government is going to have to reckon with into the 2024 elections. Fernandez was President from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012, running for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). His governments from 2004 to 2012 were characterized by massive borrowing and corruption that was whitewashed in the PLD-controlled judiciary.
Now Fernandez wants to tell the present administration what needs to be done. Fernandez reached the Presidency with the backing of Danilo Medina and the late Juan Bosch. Yet later he would split with Medina over differences on who should be the President.
In his last year in government, former President Danilo Medina was impeded to change the 2015 Constitution to enable him to run for a third term. Fernandez accused Medina of rigging the electronic systems that carried the tally of the PLD primary in 2019 to later impose Gonzalo Castillo as the PLD candidate. Castillo lost to Luis Abinader of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) who garnered the favor of hundreds of thousands of independent voters.
Fernandez is an outstanding speaker and is taking advantage of this. Contrary to Medina, the Constitution does allow him to be a presidential candidate again and he aspires to run again in 2024 and compete against Luis Abinader who is expected to seek a second term.
In his speech, Fernandez disputed the achievements of the Abinader government in its first year. He says that the real recovery of the economy is but 0.3% when compared to 2019 and not 2020. He criticizes the high level of indebtedness contracted by the Abinader government (the highest in Latin America) in its first year and highlights the rising inflation that affects the people. He says that the data on the restoring of employment is wrong and says that the vaccination plan has not met expectations.
In his talk on 23 August 2021, Fernandez recognized the macroeconomic stability and the positive climate for investment. He criticized the low public investment saying the government has only invested 6.5% of the total spending on capital investments.
Fernandez says his party, the Fuerza del Pueblo, does not favor Constitutional Reform to bolster the independence of the Justice Branch as proposed by President Abinader. He says the Constitution already incorporates mechanisms for this. Fernandez’s reform of the Constitution incorporated the Attorney General to the National Council of Magistracy and this gave the President of the Republic the winning card to decide on who are the judges.
For the passing of Constitutional Reform, the ruling political party would need the vote of the opposition legislators to reach the two-thirds majority required.
The Abinader administration has convened the political parties to participate in talks that would start on 30 August 2021 under the umbrella of the Social and Economic Council (CES).
Muckracking radio and youtuber influencer, Altagracia Salazar says that Fernandez is betting on the short-term memory of Dominicans and how a quick check in Google will reveal facts that contradict Fernández’s persuasive speaking.
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