On Friday 16 August 2024, President Luis Abinader was sworn in for a second term as President of the Dominican Republic. In his address to the nation marking the start of his second term, the President set the roadmap for his second government (2024-2028). He touched upon a long list of issues on everything to presidential term limits to the difficult international situations existing in Venezuela and Haiti.
He said that the much-debated constitutional reforms that he is proposing includes a new limit on the presidential term, saying that today, Monday, 19 August, he was going to present the Congress with a legislative proposal that would convene a Constitutional Assembly to amend the Constitution to “ironclad” the presidential term to a maximum two consecutive four-year, term of office. The current Constitution already sets the presidential term exclusively at a max of two four-year periods. He also mentioned the fiscal reform acknowledging this should bring more revenues for the government but also should entail more prudential spending.
He also said that he would only use the overwhelming majority that the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) enjoys in both the Senate as well as the Chamber of Deputies for “the benefit of the country…”
The President touched on the difficult situation in Venezuela, and he sided with the countries in the Americas that are calling for the publication of the polling station results.
The President addressed social and economic issues, including the pending tax reform proposals, the improvement in the poverty index, and the construction of more hospitals. He spoke of the needed reform to the social security law. There has been ample criticism regarding the financial entities that report high yields for their participation in the health and pension plans.
Abinader spoke of how the homicide rate in the country was the second lowest in the Caribbean region in 2023. He has named a new Minister of Interior & Police to further security issues.
Abinader also noted that his proposals for changes in the Labor Code would also be in the legislative package to be presented to Congress on 19 August 2024, to incorporate new provisions for domestic work, and remote work.
Regarding the situation in Haiti, President Abinader told the National Assembly, as well as a plethora of visiting dignitaries, that the Dominican Republic had done all it could do with regards to the neighboring nation, and that the international community needed to step up and do its part. The new government in Haiti has set distance from working with the Dominican government and declined attending the inaugural. The foreign minister of Haiti blames the Dominican government for being racist and urges international historic restoration.
Editorials in Diario Libre focus on expectations this will be a different second term, given the experience the President brings to his next four years. Executive editor Anibal de Castro calls for correcting of what he describes as the “elephantiasis” in government spending during this second term.
Read more in Spanish:
Presidential speech 16 August 2024
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Reuters
19 August 2024