The National Revisory Assembly, which is made up of senators and deputies for reviewing amendments to the Constitution, met on Friday 12 June 2015 and 181 of members voted in favor and 39 against in the second reading of the proposed changes of the 2010 Constitution to re-instate consecutive re-election. The 2015 Constitution was formalized then on Saturday in a ceremony at Congress.
The change now allows President Danilo Medina to run for re-election. Recent polls had shown he was the only PLD pre-candidate who could win the 2016 presidential election.
Article 124 was amended to:
“The Executive Power is exercised by the President, who shall be elected by direct vote. The President of the Republic may opt for a second consecutive term, but is unable to ever run for the same office or for Vice President of the Republic “. A transitional clause was added specifying that if the President of the Republic for the 2012-2016 period were to run again, he would not be able to do so or run for the vice presidency in any other constitutional period.
Diario Libre reports that this change all but eliminates the pre-candidacies of senator Reinaldo Pared Perez, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia, Economy Minister Temistocles Montas and former CDEEE executive vice president Radhames Segura, as well as PRD president Miguel Vargas’ and possibly the PRSC’s Quique Antun’s candidacies.
On Sunday, 14 June 2015 Constitutional expert Julio Cury speculated that the wording still leaves open the door for President Danilo Medina to seek the Presidency again in the future.
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