Spanish
Santo Domingo.- The Special Commission of the Chamber of Deputies studying the bill on independent candidacies held a day of public hearings this Monday with a noticeably low participation compared to previous processes. Only about 15 people attended the meeting to express their opinions to the legislators.
During the session, no substantive proposals were presented on the three legislative projects currently under review by the commission. The interventions focused primarily on criticisms of the D’Hondt seat allocation method, the public financing of political parties, the power concentrated in the party elites, and the legal obstacles that, according to the participants, hinder the exercise of independent candidacies.
Among the citizens and representatives of organizations who spoke were: Heraldo Quiroz, Roberto Francisco Monclue, Antoni Cabrera Torres, Miguel Matos, Yadira Margarita Martes Domínguez, Rosmery Bonifacio, Federico Marín Estrella, Isaías Ramos, Pedro Julio Abreu, José Cabral, Trajano Vidal Potentini, Miguel Valoi, Féliz Nova, Wiston Gutiérrez, and Fernando Abreu.You can also read: School Nutrition Project Study Advances
One of the most prominent approaches was that of the jurist Trajano Vidal Potentini, president of the Bar Association (CARD), who announced that he will submit an instance before the Constitutional Court, with the aim of challenging the obligation that independent candidacies must be presented by civil society organizations, considering that this requirement distorts the essence of these citizen figures.
At the end of the day, the chairman of the commission, deputy Elías Wessin Chávez, described the meeting as "enriching" and announced that, starting next week, the commission will begin the process of deliberation article by article, with a view to issuing a report that will be debated later in the chamber.
Currently, the commission is examining a comparative matrix that includes the proposal submitted by the Central Electoral Board (JCE), as well as the dissenting vote of magistrate Rafael Vallejo Santelises, a member of the JCE Plenary, who expressed disagreements with specific aspects of the project. Likewise, two additional initiatives are being considered: one presented by the deputy Wessin Chávez himself and another by the legislator Rogelio Genao Lanza, of the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC).
This last one proposes the repeal of articles 156, 157, and 158 of the Electoral Regime Law, with the aim of completely eliminating the figure of independent candidacies. According to Genao Lanza, these represent an obstacle to the stability of the country's political and institutional system.
