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Dominican Republic The Executive
The executive had long been the dominant branch in the
Dominican governmental system. The president's powers
derived
from his supreme authority over national administration,
the
armed forces, and all public affairs. In addition, the
president
was the beneficiary of the worldwide trends toward
centralized
decision making and increased executive dominance.
Television and
other forms of modern mass communications also focused
greater
attention on the president. The political culture of the
Dominican Republic, with its emphasis on machismo and
strong
leadership, reinforced this tendency to make the president
the
focal point of the political system. Not surprisingly,
Dominican
presidents traditionally had been dominant, charismatic,
forceful
personalities.
The Constitution vests executive power in a president
who is
elected by direct popular vote and whose term of office is
four
years. There is no prohibition against a president's
seeking
reelection, but since the electoral defeat of Balaguer in
1978,
presidents had limited themselves to one term. The
Constitution
requires that presidential candidates be Dominican
citizens by
birth or origin, at least thirty years old, and in
possession of
all political and civil rights. A candidate cannot have
been a
member of the military, or the police, for at least one
year
prior to his election. Vice presidential candidates must
meet the
same qualifications.
The vice president may assume the office of president
when
the chief executive is ill, outside the country, or
otherwise
unable to perform his duties. If the president dies, or
becomes
permanently unable to carry out the functions of his
office, the
vice president serves until the next scheduled election.
If the
vice president is also unable to fill the office, the
president
of the Supreme Court of Justice (who is chosen by the
Senate)
serves temporarily. Within fifteen days, he must convene
the
National Assembly (which consists of both houses of the
Congress
of the Republic), which must then select a substitute to
fill out
the term.
The Dominican Constitution takes twenty-seven
paragraphs to
spell out the president's extensive powers. Among the most
important are those that grant him authority over
virtually all
appointments and removals of public officials; empower him
to
promulgate the laws passed by Congress; direct him to
engage in
diplomatic relations; and empower him to command, to
deploy, and
to make appointments in, the armed forces. The president
also has
vast emergency powers to suspend basic rights in times of
emergency, to prorogue the Congress, to declare a state of
siege,
and to rule by decree. Historically, the exercise of these
emergency powers usually had been the prelude to
dictatorship.
The few limitations the Constitution places on
presidential
authority focus primarily on the requirement to secure
congressional consent to certain appointments, treaty
negotiations, entry into certain contracts, and the
exercise of
emergency powers. These provisions put no more thana
limited
check on presidential authority, however, because the
Dominican
voting system almost automatically guarantees the
president a
majority of his followers in Congress. The Dominican
courts also
offer little impediment to the exercise of executive
power,
mainly because they lack the power of judicial review.
The 1966 Constitution provides for ministers and
subcabinet
ministers to assist in public administration. These
officials
must be Dominican citizens, at least twenty-five years of
age,
with full civil and political rights. The powers of the
ministers
are determined by law; they are not set forth in the
Constitution. However, the president is constitutionally
responsible for the actions of his ministers. Ministers
serve at
the president's discretion, can be removed by him, and
function
both as administrators of their ministries and as agents
of
presidential authority.
In a system as heavily weighted toward the executive as
the
Dominican one, the force of a president's personality can
do much
to determine his relative success or failure in office.
Trujillo,
the dictator, was tough and forceful; Bosch, the democrat,
was
weak and ineffectual. Balaguer, although he appeared meek
in
public, proved to be a very shrewd politician.
Data as of December 1989
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