NewsWhore
07-28-2006, 01:10 PM
President Leonel Fernandez is giving constitutional reform priority in his government. The PLD ruling party will be majority in Congress as of 16 August, with 96 deputies of 178 in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 of 32 senators in the Senate, and thus will be able to decide on this issue.
Among the innovations the President would like to be included in the Constitution is one that would allow Dominicans who reside abroad to aspire to elected posts. An estimated 1.5 million Dominicans live abroad. Thus, Dominicans in New York could have a congressional representation. President Fernandez would also like to see that Dominicans abroad could participate in municipal elections.
President Fernandez made the comment during a workshop on migration held recently at the Fundacion Global, his think tank. During the workshop, the point was made that remittances at an estimated US$3.5 billion are equivalent to 8-12% of the GDP. Niky Fabiancic, resident representative of the United Nations Development Program, in turn estimated the remittances at US$2.4 billion in 2005, which he said was equivalent to 50% of all free zone exports.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
Among the innovations the President would like to be included in the Constitution is one that would allow Dominicans who reside abroad to aspire to elected posts. An estimated 1.5 million Dominicans live abroad. Thus, Dominicans in New York could have a congressional representation. President Fernandez would also like to see that Dominicans abroad could participate in municipal elections.
President Fernandez made the comment during a workshop on migration held recently at the Fundacion Global, his think tank. During the workshop, the point was made that remittances at an estimated US$3.5 billion are equivalent to 8-12% of the GDP. Niky Fabiancic, resident representative of the United Nations Development Program, in turn estimated the remittances at US$2.4 billion in 2005, which he said was equivalent to 50% of all free zone exports.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)