Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
With regard to greater respect for democratic institutions,
several important successes occurred during Fernandez's first
three years in office. One has to do with improvements in the
judicial branch. A crucial step was the appointment of a new
Supreme Court composed of distinguished jurists in a much
more open process through a Council of the Magistrature
established by the constitutional reform of 1994. This Supreme
Court has sought to review and improve the qualifications of
judges throughout the country. In August 1998, Congress also
approved a law establishing a judicial career service; the implementation
of such a career service is expected to further professionalize
and improve the judiciary. Another success was the
fact that the congressional and municipal elections held on
May 16, 1998, were viewed as free and fair, although the results
were disappointing for Fernandez. The death of PRD leader
Peha Gomez a week before the elections probably helped the
PRD win by an even wider margin than expected; with 51.4 percent
of the vote, the PRD gained twenty-four of thirty Senate
seats, and eighty-three of 149 Chamber of Deputies' seats. The
PLD won 30.4 percent of the vote, winning only four Senate
seats and forty-nine Chamber seats (sufficient to permit it to
uphold a presidential veto). The PRSC, in turn, continued its
decline, winning only 16.8 percent of the vote, and electing two
senators and seventeen representatives.
As a result of the election, President Fernandez was completing
his term with continued strong opposition in Congress.
In the course of 1999, both the PRD and the PLD were able to
choose presidential candidates without causing party splits,
even as the PRSC remained beholden to its now nonagenarian
leader, Joaquin Balaguer. As of November 1999, the May 2000
presidential elections appeared to be polarized between
Hipolito Mejia, the candidate of the PRD, and Danilo Medina,
the candidate of the PLD. As neither appeared able to attain a
majority in the first round, both were courting Balaguer and
the PRSC for potential support in the second round. Thus, the
state of the country's political parties (especially the PRSC) and
the party system remained in flux as the country prepared for
the challenges of the next century.
System of Government
Especially in the period since 1978, the Dominican Republic
has had important experiences with democratic politics. At the
same time, democracy has been marred by the weakness of
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