The political scientist and academic warns that second terms are very delicate and wear out
Proposes to freeze the creation of provinces in the country for a period of 50 years
Political scientist Belarminio Ramírez Morillo described President Luis Abinader’s constitutional reform initiative as positive and healthy, because points such as the unification of elections will bring great gains for the country.
Interviewed by journalist Federico Méndez, on the program Esferas de Poder, which is broadcast on Sundays from 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning, on RNN Channel 27, he stated that the plan to reform the Supreme Law is to do so before the end of the year, where he asks that the creation of new provinces in the country be frozen.
“This will bring great gains to the country, since separate elections have a very high cost for the State, for the parties and for the economy in general,” he added.
The political marketing expert says that reducing the number of deputies, where the presidential proposal proposes to increase it from 190 to 137 legislators, will not affect the 20 deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen).
Ramírez Morillo said that the State spends many millions a year to maintain these Parlacen deputies, which may well reduce to two or five or bring them to zero.
“The initiative is healthy and positive, the president has focused on four key points,” he stressed, referring to the approach to the reform of the Magna Carta.
As for the independence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he considered that it should be chosen from among the Attorney Generals of the Courts of Appeal and not from a shortlist submitted to the National Council of the Judiciary.
He indicated that a Court of Appeals attorney has 20, 30 or more years in office and is in the career of Ministry Public, so he has a lot of experience, a point that he assures will be the subject of debate.
Proposes to freeze the creation of provinces in the country for a period of 50 years
Jurist and academic Belarminio Ramírez Morillo stressed that the Constitution of the Republic establishes the political division into regions, provinces, municipalities, municipal districts and places, but does not say how many should be contemplated.
He specified that a province is created by a law approved by the National Congress.
“My proposal is to freeze the creation of provinces for 50 years and reduce it from 32 to 34, because the province of Santo Domingo urgently needs to be divided into three provinces,” he said.
Ramírez Morillo believes that the provinces of Santo Domingo Norte, Este and Oeste should be created.
He bases his opinion on the fact that the province of Santo Domingo has three million inhabitants, compared to a national population of 12 million people, which must be corrected.
“The province of Santo Domingo has more inhabitants than the southern region and the eastern region, so how can you have one senator for three million inhabitants and one senator for less than 100,000 inhabitants?” he stressed.
Regarding the blocking of the Constitution to prevent it from being modified for electoral purposes, he maintains that there is a lot of populism in the approach and it shows a detachment on the part of Abinader.
He believes that it would be significant to freeze the number of provinces, municipalities and municipal districts because one of the biggest wastes of money in the country is in municipal elections.
She warns that second periods are very delicate and exhausting.
Political scientist Belarminio Ramírez Morillo warned that one of the challenges facing President Luis Abinader’s government is to demand discipline from presidential candidates, because second terms wear down rulers and are very delicate.
He noted that during second terms many people lose their temper and corruption increases.
“Ambition is multiplied, pillow talk is on the rise, psychological pressure is on the rise, and presidents have to be like a one-eyed guinea pig,” he added.
The expert believes that during this period, civil society will need to monitor the government’s management and will have to be careful “because that’s when the horses lose their temper,” he said.
He indicated that it is a great challenge for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) to go to the presidential elections in 1928 with a new figure who is not President Luis Abinader, despite having figures with a very good image.
“Something that has been in favor of the president’s image is that he has moved officials around, that is, since he arrived he has been removing ministers, directors, he has been making changes and the population likes that,” he added.
He said that the fact that he is starting his second term with so many officials moving around also creates expectations and it is positive for any government to move the pieces in the new period.
Ramírez Morillo said that the government has several officials who are candidates for the Presidency of the Republic, a point that he describes as delicate.
“Because if you move them, then you clip their wings and destroy them. If you move them, you should move them to more important positions than they have, but you also cannot allow them to turn the State into a stage for politicization, from Monday to Friday,” he argued.
He said that President Abinader has to demand discipline from the presidential candidates and that they promote themselves on weekends.
