The constitutional reform project that President Luis Abinader will send this afternoon to the National Congress will be sent to a bicameral commission as soon as it reaches that body, which will discuss it at length, the president of the Senate, Ricardo de los Santos, announced this morning.
He also reported that the piece will be introduced today at 1:30 in the afternoon by a commission of the Executive Branch, via the Senate of the RepublicThe legislator assured that the Constitution of the Republic will be reformed by October at the latest.
He explained that both he and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, agree that the initiative should go to a commission where political parties with congressional representation are represented.
They will invite parties
He said that the Senate will invite all parties to participate in the discussions before the law declaring the need for a Revisory Assembly is approved.
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In an interview on the Hoy Mismo program broadcast on Color Visión channel 9, De los Santos said that the public hearings on the reform project will depend on the scope of the project.
“Once the bicameral commission has reviewed it, we would review it in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and it will be approved and it is a bill that the Constitution itself establishes as a bill that cannot even be protested,” he said.
He added that “once the proposed constitutional amendment is approved, it is sent to the Executive Branch, but it is a law that cannot be protested, vetoed, or observed by the Executive Branch.”
He explained that once the Executive Branch promulgates the law calling for the constitutional review assembly, Congress can meet as a review assembly within the next 15 days.
“It is not as some people think that it is within 15 days, what the law says is that within the next 15 days, it could even be the next day, or two or three days after the promulgation.
How will it be?
He explained that once the reviewing assembly has met, discussions of the points to be modified begin and they must be approved in two readings.
“After the reform is approved after the first discussion, the entire Constitution is then read in the Assembly. And when it is approved in the second discussion after it has been read, it is then sent to the Executive Branch for promulgation,” explained the Senate president.
De los Santos added that “the reviewing assembly must limit itself only to the issues that are approved in the law, it cannot include other issues, but it can give its opinion on the issues approved in the law.”
The funny ones
He reported that President Abinader made it clear that he does not want “some joker” to appear and say that he should go beyond 2028.
He said that no one can be above the decision of the President who has decided to strictly comply with what the Constitution says, which is two terms and never more.
Participation
The Senate president reported that anyone who wants to participate in the discussions of the bicameral commission can do so by submitting a request and then be heard at the meetings. Among the points proposed by Abinader are reelection for a single term, the independence of the Public Ministry and measures to guarantee transparency.
