Former President Leonel Fernández said on Monday that it was “illegal” for the Executive to establish that only half of the economic resources allocated to political parties would be distributed after the approval of the Budget Law.
“Obviously, the national budget is a law and that law has been approved, and if the law states that there are 1,200 million to be granted to political parties, no one can be above that law that has already been approved, any other action would be be illegal and therefore liable to legal action, “Fernández said.
For this year 2021, the Executive Power initially ordered the allocation of 1,260 million pesos to be distributed among political parties. However, according to the general state budget, only $ 630,200,000 RD will be allocated to political organizations, while the other half appears with the category “does not apply”.
The leader of the Fuerza del Pueblo party added that it cannot be used as a reason why the other half will be used to build an extension of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) in Santo Domingo Este, because during his governments “9 extensions were built of the UASD, and the budget of political parties has never been affected by this issue. “
“Political parties are a backbone of the democratic system, parties must be strengthened, not weakened, so I think it is a mistake to try to deviate from what the already established law approved in the Congress of the Republic,” Fernández said.
In election years, the executive usually allocates economic elements that are around 3 billion pesos to be distributed among the parties, while in non-election years the amounts oscillate around RD $ 1,200 MM.
RD $ 630 MM to be delivered to political organizations is the smallest amount that has been delivered by the government.