President Fernández Meets with New Senators in National Palace

President Fernández Meets with New Senators in National Palace
Santo Domingo, 08/17/2010

Dominican President Leonel Fernández met on Monday with a group of newly-elected Senators at the National Palace where he congratulated them and reminded the lawmakers of the challenges they face in putting together an effective legislative agenda and adapting a new Constitution that meets the needs of the country.

In our case, at this moment in the democratic political history of the Dominican Republic, we can say that we have gone through a transition to democracy and now we are dealing with the quality of the democracy…

At the two-hour meeting, held in one of the private halls on the third floor of the Government House, the President called on the legislators to consolidate the democratic and lawful state the country is now enjoying. He said there is no excuse for them not to do that insofar as they enjoy a large majority in the Senate as well as the House of Representatives.

“In our case, at this moment in the democratic political history of the Dominican Republic, we can say that we have gone through a transition to democracy and now we are dealing with the quality of the democracy and the institutional strengthening of the democratic state as we assume the values and principles of 19th century liberalism while combining it with social constitutionalism of the 20th century. In this lies our capacity to visualize a democratic state, perhaps also a social state. This is the great challenge we face before us in terms of institutional policy,” said the president.

Fernández noted that this is the first time an elected legislature will remain in office for six years and the first time any party has won such a large number of legislative seats (31) in the Dominican Senate, according to the Presidential Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

The Head of State expressed his interest in working together with the legislators “on an agenda with the sole purpose of contributing to the well-being of the Dominican people.”

President Fernández´s meeting with the new Senators was held after they were sworn in by the National Congress for a period of six years, the first time in the history of the country.