Spanish
Santo Domingo.— The Senate of the Dominican Republic approved this Wednesday in second reading, with 18 votes in favor and 4 against, the bill that repeals articles 156, 157 and 158 of Law 20-23, Organic of the Electoral Regime, an initiative submitted by Senator Rogelio Genao along with other legislators.
The legislative piece seeks to eliminate the regime of independent candidacies within the Dominican electoral system.
During the voting process, four votes against were recorded, including lawmakers from the ruling party.
One of the senators who rejected the piece was Antonio Taveras of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), who considered that the discussion about independent candidacies has been handled incorrectly and defended that these do not weaken democracy, but can expand it.
Taveras maintained that the party system is fundamental to representative democracy, but questioned the type of political organizations that currently predominate.
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The legislator also warned that the loss of credibility of the parties is largely due to their own actions and that, according to what he stated, some organizations have allowed the infiltration of organized crime into politics.Support for the initiative
For his part, Senator Antonio Marte supported the elimination of independent candidacies and argued that allowing them would generate disorder in the electoral process. Marte stated that, if that model were approved, there would be a proliferation of candidates for public office that would make it difficult to organize the elections. “No habrá sábana que aguante tantos candidatos”, expresó al cuestionar cómo la autoridad electoral podría administrar un proceso con una cantidad ilimitada de postulaciones. Following its approval in the Senate, the initiative will be sent to the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, where it must be considered and voted on in accordance with the established legislative procedure.
