Today is Constitution Day

[NewsWhore]

The Dominican Constitution celebrates the 164th anniversary of its birth in the middle of a controversial and broad process aimed at a reformation in which one part is arguing for a Constituent Assembly and the other argues for a National Review Assembly. The proposed reforms to the Constitution, submitted by the Executive Branch, for the 38th time since 1861, a year in which it was modified three times, touches on a number of important points, including the Central Electoral Board (JCE), the Judicial Branch, the unification of the elections and the theme of re-election. On the question of the proposed changes to the Constitution, there is a great deal of debate among the political parties, the civil society, the Justice Department and the JCE. On the issue of the Electoral Board, the proposal is that the electoral system would be governed by two entities - the JCE and a Higher Electoral Tribunal. The suggested changes to the Judicial Branch consist of the creation of a Constitutional Chamber to deal with issues of the constitutionality of laws, which has generated some conflict, since the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Jorge Subero Isa, wants the Constitutional Chamber inside the Supreme Court. He feels that if such a court were created outside the SCJ, political interests would dominate the Dominican justice system. Another aspect that is under scrutiny is the phrase "never again" that refers to presidential re-election. The current Constitution rules that the Executive Power is carried out by the President of the Republic, elected each four years by direct vote with the option of a second, consecutive and unique constitutional term of office but "never again" can a President run for office, or that of the Vice-President. The reform wants to allow the President to be allowed to run for office after one term out of office. On the issue of unifying the elections, the proposed changes consist of holding the elections on the second Sunday in May, every four years, to elect the President, Vice-President and all congressional and municipal candidates. Each election would be separate. For the creation of this reform package, the President put the question to the National Dialogue process that consisted of a series of public hearings, before preparing the draft.
Constitution Day will be celebrated with a holiday on Monday, 10 November.

More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)