NewsWhore
10-11-2006, 06:40 PM
With Monday night's announcement by President Fernandez that the reform of the Constitution would be carried out through a system of "popular consultations", different groups have expressed their support or rejection for the idea. According to El Caribe, the opposition PRD party showed its displeasure with the President's idea by not showing up for the speech. PRD Secretary General Orlando Jorge Mera commented yesterday that it is not a political priority to start reforming the constitution at this moment because the public wants answers to bigger problems like the energy crisis, the fuel crisis, health and education. Accordingly the PRD has announced that they will not take part in the reform process because they are not in agreement with the method being used. The PRSC is also criticizing President Leonel Fernandez's decision to hold a popular consultation instead of a constituent assembly, but unlike the PRD, the Reformist party has not gone as far as to boycott the process. Members of some civil society organizations are still trying to get a constituent assembly created to deal with the modification of the document. Javier Cabreja told reporters that Participacion Ciudadana feels that an assembly is the "most democratic" way of doing things. The spokesperson for the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation said that the members would study the Presidential address before taking a stand. The Human Rights Commission said that they were at odds with the President's position on a few items, such as migration issues.
On the other hand, Adriano Miguel Tejada, editor-in-chief of Diario Libre, says that the President's speech was "an example of the democratic mood that is needed for societies like ours to progress." Tejada, a political scientist as well as a lawyer, points out that whether or not one agrees with the President's ideas, it is the method that matters. He says that the President has put his bets on the dialogue, on rational arguments that seek out a solution and answers to problems. Tejada says, "Our society... rejects this way of acting because it has spent too long being governed by authoritative formulas that have become part of the culture, and that condemn us to live from complaint to complaint and in total disbelief of any other way of finding a solution." While there is no doubt that the President gave a political speech, it is undeniable that it was also courteous, respectful, firm on some points, but always open to outside ideas and to listen to reasons from other parties. Tejada goes on to say that perhaps the point that some have not understood is that the call to discuss the project of a new Constitution, especially the way that the President outlined it, is not trying to divide the Dominican society, but rather to begin the search for those common points that will allow the removal of the obstacles from the past. The Diario Libre editor says that the country should support the consultations as an exercise in civics
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
On the other hand, Adriano Miguel Tejada, editor-in-chief of Diario Libre, says that the President's speech was "an example of the democratic mood that is needed for societies like ours to progress." Tejada, a political scientist as well as a lawyer, points out that whether or not one agrees with the President's ideas, it is the method that matters. He says that the President has put his bets on the dialogue, on rational arguments that seek out a solution and answers to problems. Tejada says, "Our society... rejects this way of acting because it has spent too long being governed by authoritative formulas that have become part of the culture, and that condemn us to live from complaint to complaint and in total disbelief of any other way of finding a solution." While there is no doubt that the President gave a political speech, it is undeniable that it was also courteous, respectful, firm on some points, but always open to outside ideas and to listen to reasons from other parties. Tejada goes on to say that perhaps the point that some have not understood is that the call to discuss the project of a new Constitution, especially the way that the President outlined it, is not trying to divide the Dominican society, but rather to begin the search for those common points that will allow the removal of the obstacles from the past. The Diario Libre editor says that the country should support the consultations as an exercise in civics
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)