NewsWhore
01-26-2010, 04:00 PM
The new Dominican Constitution will be proclaimed today at the National Assembly of the 210 senators and the deputies. Today the nation honors the memory of Juan Pablo Duarte, the founding father of the Dominican nation.
Once proclaimed, legislators will need to work to modify laws that are now affected by all the changes. The new Constitution has 277 articles and 19 transitory dispositions, up from the 122 articles of the 2002 Constitution that was modified under former President Hipolito Mejia to restore presidential re-election and eliminate closed voting stations. This is the first time the Constitution has been practically rewritten since 1963, during the first government after the Trujillo dictatorship.
Major changes made include articles on eliminating the clause against a President running again after aspiring for two terms, banning abortion in all circumstances, incorporating a mix of jus solis and jus sanguinis for Dominican nationality, unifying congressional elections with presidential elections in 2016, creating a Constitutional Court, fixing retirement of Supreme Court judges at the age of 75, adding 7 legislators to represent Dominicans abroad, and another 5 deputies locally, among other issues. Furthermore, it establishes that reforms to the Constitution will now require approval by referendum, a process that would be organized by the Central Electoral Board. The number of judges at the Central Electoral Board was also reduced.
The proclamation process begins with a reading in the morning to be followed by a speech by President Leonel Fernandez in the afternoon. Fernandez submitted the draft for the new constitution on 18 September 2008. In the end, a political agreement between Fernandez and opposition PRD leader Miguel Vargas Maldonado led to the final changes that were made to the Constitution.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
Once proclaimed, legislators will need to work to modify laws that are now affected by all the changes. The new Constitution has 277 articles and 19 transitory dispositions, up from the 122 articles of the 2002 Constitution that was modified under former President Hipolito Mejia to restore presidential re-election and eliminate closed voting stations. This is the first time the Constitution has been practically rewritten since 1963, during the first government after the Trujillo dictatorship.
Major changes made include articles on eliminating the clause against a President running again after aspiring for two terms, banning abortion in all circumstances, incorporating a mix of jus solis and jus sanguinis for Dominican nationality, unifying congressional elections with presidential elections in 2016, creating a Constitutional Court, fixing retirement of Supreme Court judges at the age of 75, adding 7 legislators to represent Dominicans abroad, and another 5 deputies locally, among other issues. Furthermore, it establishes that reforms to the Constitution will now require approval by referendum, a process that would be organized by the Central Electoral Board. The number of judges at the Central Electoral Board was also reduced.
The proclamation process begins with a reading in the morning to be followed by a speech by President Leonel Fernandez in the afternoon. Fernandez submitted the draft for the new constitution on 18 September 2008. In the end, a political agreement between Fernandez and opposition PRD leader Miguel Vargas Maldonado led to the final changes that were made to the Constitution.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)