Medina beats Fernández: reelection bid at full speed

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - In Brief 28 May 2015 by Pavel Isa
Today an agreement reached between former President Leonel Fernández and President Danilo Medina put a dramatic end to the severe crisis of the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) which was in the verge of a division. The agreement paved the way to get approved a Constitutional amendment which would allow President Medina to run for reelection and set the ground to get the party back together. The big looser is Fernández who was forced to accept what only three days ago he said would fight against: a modification of the Constitution without a referendum. The agreement includes, among others, the following points: a) all PLD Senators and members of Congress will vote in support of the amendment; b) the amendment will include an increase in the percentage of votes needed to amend the Constitution for future amendments; this looks to make it more difficult to eventually get rid of any limitations to re-election; c) nominations for Congress for the 2016 elections will be “reserved”; that means that most of current Senators and members of Congress will be nominated again without going to primaries; d) postpone the next congress of the party to Q4 2020; that means Fernández will remain as PLD President until that date; and e) no legal actions will be taken by any of the parties involved with respect to the process of amending the Constitution. As a result of that, this afternoon the bill calling for convening the National Assembly to reform the Constitution passed in the Senate by unanimity. Now the bill will be discussed and decided on by the House. It is expected that, as in the Senate, all PLD Congresspersons will vote in favor. They are sufficient to pass it. The s...

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