Government

The Dominican Republic [1] has a democracy with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive power is the president, who appoints a cabinet, is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and executes laws passed by the legislative branch. The president and vice president both hold four-year terms.

The National Congress consists of the Senate (32 members) and the Chamber of Deputies (150 members). The judicial system has a Supreme Court consisting of nine judges elected by the Senate.

The three main political parties in the Dominican Republic are the PRD (Partido Revolucionario Dominicana or the Dominican Revolutionary Party), the DLP (Partido de la Liberación Dominicana or Dominican Liberation Party), and the PRSC (Partido Reformista Social Cristiano or the Social Christian Reformist Party). The current president, Leonel Fernández, is a member of the DLP.

With one of the first free elections occurring in 2004, a new generation of “clean” politics has the opportunity to strengthen. But corruption, which has always been a problem, is not gone yet. With each election, government workers fear for their jobs, since most who gain power reward their supporters and oust the previous staffs, and this goes through all levels of government, not just the top seats.