As requested by the Senate on Tuesday, the top pick to take up Amable Aristy Castro’s empty Senate seat representing Altagracia Province resigned his seat in the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate had notified the head of the PRSC, ex-President Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, that it would only consider his party’s list of three candidates for the currently vacant Senate seat when the list is no longer headed by a sitting Federal Deputy. That is to say, the PRSC’s top choice, Deputy Ramón Ricardo Sánchez de la Rosa (Altagracia), had to first resign his Chamber seat or else be taken off the list. The vacancy was created when Aristy Castro resigned because of his new position as LMD Secretary-General (the Dominican Constitution does not allow sitting legislators to hold other public office). As is the tradition, the party that had won the vacant seat in the previous elections can nominate three of its members from which the Senate can choose a successor. In addition to Dr. Sánchez de la Rosa, the PRSC had nominated Juan Santana Castro and Hubo Alberto González.
