Tourism in the Dominican Republic - a legal guide - Pellerano ...

participation. All poverty indicators have likewise
improved.
The growth experienced by the Dominican economy
during the year 2000 captured the attention of the
international community, being praised by institutions
such as the International Monetary Fund and the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean, which in its preliminary report for said year
confirmed that the Dominican Republic showed the
highest growth rate of all Latin American and Caribbean
countries, and that this was the fifth consecutive year
that the country had been breaking its annual growth
record. Furthermore, during the year 2001, in spite of
adverse external and internal factors, the economy
grew by 2.7%, a rate that was five times higher than
the average growth rate in Latin America.
POLITICAL SYSTEM
The Constitution of the Dominican Republic defines
the government system as being democratic, republican
and presidential. The exercise of power is divided
among three independent branches: executive,
legislative and judicial.
Executive Branch
The Executive Power is exercised by the President
of the Republic, who is elected through direct vote,
together with the Vice-president, for four-year-periods,
but without possibility of re-election for consecutive
periods since the last amendment to the Constitution in
1994. The President is the Head of State, Government
and Public Administration, as well as the Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces, and is assisted by a cabinet
of ministers ("Secretarios de Estado") designated by
him.
Since August 2000 the President of the Republic is
Mr. Hipolito Mejia, and the Vice-president is Mrs.
Milagros Ortiz Bosch, of Partido Revolucionario
Dominicano (PRD). Due to the results of the poll held in
May 2000, which gave President Mejia and Vicepresident
Ortiz Bosch a victory that was very short of
reaching the required 50%, the opposition waived a
second poll, and they were proclaimed winners of the
2000 election. The next presidential elections will take
place in May 2004.
Legislative Branch
The Legislative Power is invested in the National
Congress, composed by two chambers: the Senate,
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composed of 32 members, and the Chamber of
Deputies, which at the moment is composed of 150
members. The Dominican Republic is politically divided
into thirty-one provinces and the National District,
where the capital is located, and each is entitled to
elect one senator, and one deputy for every 50,000
inhabitants plus fraction exceeding 25,000.
The members of both chambers are elected by
each province through direct majority vote for fouryear-periods.
Since 1994 legislative elections take place
separately from presidential elections.
Since the last elections in May 2002, congressional
representation of the different political parties is
distributed as follows: at the Senate, thirty senators for
Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), one senator
for Partido de la Liberacion Dominicano (PLD), and one
senator for Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC);
at the Chamber of Deputies, 72 deputies for PRD, 40
deputies for PLD and 38 deputies for PRSC.
The next legislative elections will take place in the
year 2006.
Judicial Branch
The Judicial Power is headed by the Supreme Court
of Justice, which apart from working as an appeals
court for all judgments rendered by judicial courts,
supervises all judges in the Dominican territory. It is
formed of nine judges designated by the National
Council of Magistrates, an institution created by the
Constitutional reform of 1994 to ensure the
independence of the judicial branch.
ECONOMY
Economic evolution and prospects
After the adjustment process initiated at the
beginning of the nineties, the growth perspectives for
the Dominican Republic are still strong. Between 1992-
2000, the average annual growth was higher than 6%,
and in the year 2001, the economy grew by 2.7% in
spite of the adverse international environment. These
numbers place the Dominican Republic as the fastest
growing economy in Latin America.
Free trade zones and sectors like tourism,
telecommunications and construction, have been the
main sources of economic development, with yearly
growth rates higher than 10%.
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