Santo Domingo.-The political delegate of the ruler Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) in the Central Electoral Board (JCE) said on Saturday that the political parties will assume a joint position regarding the sentence of the Constitutional Court (TC) that provides for the registration of independent candidacies for the next elections since this decision attacks the party system.
The lawyer Sigmund Freund Mena He maintained that they have been in talks with the other parties, the main opposition parties and with the Central Electoral Board (JCE) and that they will take actions in the coming days jointly, always respecting the decision of the TC.
“There is a unified position from all the parties that we have talked about regarding the concern they have with this decision,” said the also Minister of Public Administration.
You may also be interested in:
He said that allowing independent candidacies, without minimal regulation, is worrying, so the National Congress and the JCE must intervene to regulate them.
Constitutional Court
The TC declared articles 156 and 157 of the Constitution not in accordance with the Constitution. Organic Law 20-23 of the Electoral Regime and established a new modality for the spontaneous presentation and without any prerequisite of presidential, congressional and municipal candidacies independently.
The Constitutional Court presents a new wording of article 156 of the regulations that has been in force since February 17, 2023, so that they are in accordance with the precepts of the Magna Carta.
Now that provision will be read and independent candidates of a national, provincial, municipal or regional nature may be proposed. National Districtthat arise through civic or social groups of citizens on the occasion of electoral processes.
The TC established that civic or social groups will be spontaneous in nature and without any prior registration requirement.
He maintained that political parties are quite regulated by the Constitution of the Republic and the Law of Parties.
He said that the TC’s decision interferes with the power of the Legislative Branch and that “that is dangerous.”
He said that political parties are enshrined in the Constitution itself and that article 216 specifies that they are the vehicles of representation of citizens for the purposes of achieving elective electoral positions.
While the vice president of the PRM, Eddy Olivares maintains that the ruling of the TC leads to a completely flexible legislation lacking rigor in terms of the requirements of independent candidates for elected positions, which are necessary to guarantee their seriousness and viability.
Instead of an independent candidate, the correct name should be a candidate for an election, as the ACE Electoral Encyclopedia very well defines it.
“Who is the candidate independent of who decides to participate in an election outside of a political party? Of course, from the political parties. It seems like a logical answer. However, this is simply a candidate who has made use of his right to register in accordance with one of the mechanisms enshrined in the law.”
The change registered in paragraph one of article 156 states that: “the aforementioned civic or social groups that propose to support independent candidacies of a national, provincial, municipal or National District nature, must previously declare it to the Central Electoral Board, at least seventy-five (75) days before each election.”
The new way of writing and reading article 157, established by the TC, speaks of the requirements for independent presidential candidates.
“To support an independent candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic, it is necessary to present to the Central Electoral Board, a management organization and a government program defined for the period in which they are to be presented,” adds ruling TC/0788/2024.
Paragraph one of that provision contemplates that the candidacies for the positions of senators and deputies to the National Congress They must be supported by the aforementioned civic and social groups, but limited to the respective electoral demarcation and the corresponding level of election.
The following indicates that candidates for elected positions in the municipalities must present to the JCE a complete municipal organization and a program to be fulfilled during the period to which the candidates aspire.
The TC provides that paragraph three states that the provisions established by this Organic Law of the Electoral Regime and that of Parties, Groups and Political Movements, with regard to the percentage requirements, will be applicable to the independent candidacies indicated in this article. of the electoral roll applicable to political parties, groups or movements.
a note
Criticized decision
The decision generated criticism from the actors of the political system that had the dissenting votes, issued by judges José Alejandro Vargas and Army Ferreira, the latter considering that the Court exceeded its powers and constitutional precedents, by incorporating into the organic regulation of the candidacies independent electoral extraordinary elements, in the form of civic and social groups of a spontaneous nature. Judge Vargas affirmed that the TC assumed “the position of a proactive legislator when creating, via constitutional control.
