The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rafael Peguero Mendez of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), announced the formation of 26 commissions after coming to agreement with the other parties represented in the lower house of Congress. Twelve of the 26 commissions will be headed by the PRD, 12 by the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC), three by the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) and one by the Union por la Democracia (UPD). For the 1996-97 legislative session, the PRD will control the commissions for Electricity, Foreign Relations, Public Works, Women’s Issues, Justice, Sports, the Armed Forces, the Haitian border, the Environment, Education, the National Library and Consumer Defense, among others.
The PRSC was assigned those of Finance, Cooperative Affairs, Industry and Commerce, Interior and Police, Labor, Tourism, Human Relations, and Family and Population.
The PLD will control the Commissions for Health, Agriculture and the Presidency, while the UDP was given the Commission for ETICA.
The PRD will give at least two of their commissions to representatives of parties who belong to their Acuerdo de Santo Domingo coalition which united for the 1994 and 1996 elections.