Political parties law: Medina gets half of a victory

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - In Brief 09 Aug 2018 by Pavel Isa

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Tuesday night, the Chamber of Representatives voted positively for a law of parties that allows parties to choose the procedure to elect nominees for President and Vicepresident, members of Congress and local authorities. The bill was supported by danilistas and allied parties, and PRM representatives.Support by PRM to that bill came as a surprise since their initial posture was in support of a law that mandated closed primaries (with the registry of each party). The bill is a half of a victory for President Medina. He wanted a law mandating open and simultaneous primaries but couldn’t get it as representatives loyal to Leonel Fernandez and those of PRM were able to block the attempt. However, Medina was able to get the support of the PRM and pass a bill allowing each party to decide on the election method. From that perspective, Medina got its way in the sense that in the PLD, he and his group, and no one else, will decide since he has majority in the Political Committee. Similar to PRM, Fernandez wanted a law that only allows closed primaries. Hence, Medina’s half victory is a defeat for Fernandez whose followers are already saying that they may take the issue the Constitutional court. The bill will now go the Senate where it is expected to pass since Medina has a solid majority there. In our next report we will provide a full assessment of the law and an analysis of winners and losers.