NewsWhore
03-23-2012, 03:30 PM
Political patronage is evident in the long list of legislators appointed to Congress, reports El Caribe in an analysis of the number of deputies in the DR compared to other countries in the Americas. The 222 legislators in the Dominican Republic are among the best-paid government officials, enjoying some of the highest salaries in government and generous perks, plus comfortable and flexible working schedules.
The newspaper found that there are more legislators in the DR than in any other Central American or Caribbean country. As of this term, the number of legislators was increased to 222 from 215 to include the new seven overseas deputies in the 2010 Constitution, despite proposals to reduce Congress to one chamber and the number to 150 made by former Chamber of Deputies president Julio Cesar Valentin in the days leading into the revision of the Constitution.
El Caribe reports that Costa Rica has 57, Panama 71, Guatemala 80, El Salvador 84, Nicaragua 90 and Honduras 128, according to data from the Observatory of Representative Institutions in Latin America, published by the University of Salamanca, Spain.
El Caribe says that excluding the new seven overseas deputies, and with an estimated population of 9,378,818, the DR has one legislator for every 43,622 inhabitants. This is followed by Honduras that has one deputy to 62,500 with a population of eight million. Guatemala is next with 80 legislators with a population of 14,713,763, or one deputy for every 187,000.
El Caribe reports that the Central American countries have only one legislative chamber, that of the deputies.
In the region, the DR is the only system with two chambers of the Congress - 32 senators and 183 deputies.
The 20 deputies assigned to the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) need to be added. The entity has been criticized for its worth. In the DR, the Parlacen appointees are ten from the PLD, nine from the PRD and one from the PRSC. Each receives a monthly wage of US$4,200, assigned in the Dominican budget.
The debate about the size of Congress is not new, although it has consistently been ignored by those in power. Sociologist Rosario Espinal says such a large Congress is totally unnecessary, and a Senate is not necessary as this is a geographically small country. "And while the parties try to present the overseas deputies as an achievement to benefit expat Dominicans, it is more a way to keep party assets abroad," she writes.
Espinal also concurs with statements by the executive director of civil society group Citizen Participation, Javier Cabreja who says that the legislature here is larger compared to our regional counterparts because, as occurs in the rest of the state, it is a source of political patronage for the large Dominican political parties (PLD, PRD, PRSC).
"The problem is that in the DR none of the parties cut posts, so there is not much hope the situation will change. A bloated government has much yield for parties and the clientelist system. That is why Congress is so big," says Espinal, a professor at the Department of Sociology of Temple University in Philadelphia.
"In the 2010 constitutional reform an excellent opportunity was lost to achieve an adequate number of legislations. Now we have a Legislative Branch that is more dysfunctional and less operative," says Javier Cabreja of Citizen Participation, who has denounced frequently administrative irregularities, excess charges and responsibility evasion by members of Congress.
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2012/03/23/pais-con-mas-legisladores-region
http://www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2008/7/7/238922/Valentin-propone-reducir-el-Congreso-a-una-sola-Camara
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)
The newspaper found that there are more legislators in the DR than in any other Central American or Caribbean country. As of this term, the number of legislators was increased to 222 from 215 to include the new seven overseas deputies in the 2010 Constitution, despite proposals to reduce Congress to one chamber and the number to 150 made by former Chamber of Deputies president Julio Cesar Valentin in the days leading into the revision of the Constitution.
El Caribe reports that Costa Rica has 57, Panama 71, Guatemala 80, El Salvador 84, Nicaragua 90 and Honduras 128, according to data from the Observatory of Representative Institutions in Latin America, published by the University of Salamanca, Spain.
El Caribe says that excluding the new seven overseas deputies, and with an estimated population of 9,378,818, the DR has one legislator for every 43,622 inhabitants. This is followed by Honduras that has one deputy to 62,500 with a population of eight million. Guatemala is next with 80 legislators with a population of 14,713,763, or one deputy for every 187,000.
El Caribe reports that the Central American countries have only one legislative chamber, that of the deputies.
In the region, the DR is the only system with two chambers of the Congress - 32 senators and 183 deputies.
The 20 deputies assigned to the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) need to be added. The entity has been criticized for its worth. In the DR, the Parlacen appointees are ten from the PLD, nine from the PRD and one from the PRSC. Each receives a monthly wage of US$4,200, assigned in the Dominican budget.
The debate about the size of Congress is not new, although it has consistently been ignored by those in power. Sociologist Rosario Espinal says such a large Congress is totally unnecessary, and a Senate is not necessary as this is a geographically small country. "And while the parties try to present the overseas deputies as an achievement to benefit expat Dominicans, it is more a way to keep party assets abroad," she writes.
Espinal also concurs with statements by the executive director of civil society group Citizen Participation, Javier Cabreja who says that the legislature here is larger compared to our regional counterparts because, as occurs in the rest of the state, it is a source of political patronage for the large Dominican political parties (PLD, PRD, PRSC).
"The problem is that in the DR none of the parties cut posts, so there is not much hope the situation will change. A bloated government has much yield for parties and the clientelist system. That is why Congress is so big," says Espinal, a professor at the Department of Sociology of Temple University in Philadelphia.
"In the 2010 constitutional reform an excellent opportunity was lost to achieve an adequate number of legislations. Now we have a Legislative Branch that is more dysfunctional and less operative," says Javier Cabreja of Citizen Participation, who has denounced frequently administrative irregularities, excess charges and responsibility evasion by members of Congress.
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2012/03/23/pais-con-mas-legisladores-region
http://www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2008/7/7/238922/Valentin-propone-reducir-el-Congreso-a-una-sola-Camara
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)