According to the Listín Diario, it will not be so easy for the proposed constitutional reform to pass. Journalist Bolívar Bello explains that 90 is the magical number needed for the installation of a valid National Assembly that would study the originally proposed 27 reforms. Article 118 of the Constitution requires that to validate the installation of a National Assembly once it has been convened by a law, it needs to get yes votes from more than half of the members of each congressional house – the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The law will convene the congressmen 15 days after it is published. There are 30 senators and 149 deputies. Thus, 16 senators are necessary and 74 deputies. This would give legality to the National Assembly. Then, the Constitution states that the vote of two-thirds of those present in the Assembly, or 60 congressmen is necessary to pass the reforms. The promoters of the project obtained an important victory when the bill was passed in the Senate. But it now goes to the Chamber of Deputies, where the situation is expected to be different. Former President Joaquín Balaguer opposes the bill. And Hatuey De Camps, president of the PRD, met with the PRD deputies to warn these of the consequences of passing the bill that seeks to reform the Constitution. The membership of the Chamber of Deputies is broken up as follows: PRD, 74 members, PLD 49 and the PRSC, 17. Four deputies are independent (PRD dissidents). The six others are Unidad Democrática and other four represent the Bloque Institutional Social Demócrata, MIUCA, Partido Quisqueyano Demócrata, and Partido Veteranos Nacionales Civiles.
