2004 – Page 273

The president and secretary general of the PRD are protesting the decision made by Chamber of Disputes of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) on 22 December that outlawed the convention convened by Hatuey de Camps. De Camps and Rafael Subervi Bonilla say they could take the members of the JCE to court for forging public …

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PRD vice-president and former Santo Domingo senator Jose Antonio Najri asked the Dominican people to pardon the PRD leaders for the disservice done to democracy. He said that through the Ley de Lemas proposal, the leadership of the organization shows its incapacity to achieve internal unity and solve its own problems, as reported in El …

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The Central Electoral Board extended the deadline for Dominican expatriates to register to vote from abroad to 26 January. So far 28,000 individuals have registered to vote, and the JCE hopes another 4,000 will take advantage of the extension. The president of the JCE, Luis Arias, made the announcement, as reported in the Listin Diario.

The Listin Diario reports that a cold front has brought early morning temperatures of 8 degrees Celsius in the mountain area of Constanza. In the city, the average temperature has oscillated between 14 and 16 degrees Celsius. Since homes in this area do not have heating, residents are layering the blankets on their beds. Professor …

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The Senate last night approved the RD$121.45 billion national budget for the year 2004. The legislation goes next to the Chamber of Deputies for further review. The final approval is expected to be given by 12 January, when the present session of Congress comes to an end. Other items on the agenda last night included …

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The Diario Libre reports that 2,000 rural houses in 14 provinces of the country will benefit from a RD$46-million contract between the Ministry of Industry & Commerce and Tecsol, S. A., a French company that provides solar power equipment. The installation of the solar panels will be accompanied by a 20-year guarantee. The program is …

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Despite promises of austerity in government expenditures, the public payroll increased by an average of 3.5% in 2003, as reported in Diario Libre. This pace of growth in government hiring is less than that reported for 2002, which stood at 5.1%. The Central Bank statistics show that the government employed a total of 378,498 employees …

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Central Bank Governor Jos? Lois Malkum and Superintendent of Banks Julio Cross have joined forces in requesting that the Supreme Court deny the petition made by lawyers for Ram?n B?ez Figueroa that would remove the judge investigating the Baninter case. Malkum and Cross accused B?ez Figueroa?s legal team of delaying the procedures aimed at unraveling …

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National Business Council (CONEP) has called the proposed Ley de Lemas (Bill of Slogans) that would permit several candidates of the same political party to run for election simultaneously ?inconvenient, inopportune and unconstitutional?. Rather than instate this highly controversial electoral mechanism, CONEP suggests that the political parties solve their differences internally. According their press release, …

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Listin Diario reported on 6 January that foreign exchange transactions were one of the most profitable businesses for banking last year. Using Superintendence of Banks figures, the newspaper reports that during the first nine months of the year alone banks earned RD$7.1 billion on FX transactions. Commissions for exchange operations reported by the 10 commercial …

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