After the presidential election, President Luis Abinader (who won with 57.44% of the vote) reached out to the runner-ups, Leonel Fernandez (28.85%) and Abel Martinez (10.39%) for the PLD and called for a post-election meeting for talks on reforms the Abinader administration and legislative community will be proposing. The ruling PRM has more than enough legislators to pass any reforms through Congress.
Initially, former three-term President Leonel Fernandez had agreed to the meeting with President Abinader, but it was postponed because he had a virus. With Abinader abroad on a work-vacation, the Fuerza del Pueblo announced that the meeting would be postponed until the party analyzed the results of the election.
Two weeks after the election, Radhames Jimenez, a former attorney general during one of the Fernandez terms, announced that the FP would oppose any attempt to reform the Constitution. And there is no longer a date for Fernandez to meet with President Abinader.
Fernandez dedicated a large part of one of his terms to the drafting of the 2010 Constitution. This was later amended in 2015 under the Danilo Medina administration to allow Fernandez to run again for President in 2024.
Jimenez said that the present 2015 Constitution is a model for Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We inform the country that, if the government uses its mechanical majority to reform the Constitution, the People’s Force will fight the changes in the streets,” he said.
Abel Martinez, presidential candidate of the former ruling Dominican Liberation Party promptly met with Abinader at his invitation and spoke of his cooperation for reforms that benefit the collective good.
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Diario Libre
4 June 2024