Former president of the republic, Leonel Fernández, said on Monday that it is “illegal” for the executive to determine that only half of the economic resources allocated to political parties are distributed after the budget bill is passed.
“ It is clear that the state budget is a law and that law has been passed, and if the law stipulates that 1,200 million must be allocated to political parties, no one can be above that law that has already been passed, any other action would be illegal and therefore subject to prosecution, ”said Fernández.
For this year 2021, the executive initially ordered the allocation of 1,260 million pesos to be divided among the political parties. However, according to the general state budget, only RD $ 630,200,000 will be allocated to political organizations, while the other half appears with the category “not applicable”.
The leader of the Fuerza del Pueblo party added that it cannot be used as a reason that the other half will be used for the construction of an extension of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) in Santo Domingo Este because during his governments “9 extensions of the UASD have been built and the budget of the political parties has never been affected by that issue.”
“The political parties are the backbone of the democratic system, the parties must be strengthened and not weakened, so I think it is a mistake to try to deviate from what has already been enacted law, approved in the Congress of the United States. Republic, ”concluded Fernández.
In election years, the executive usually allocates economic posts amounting to about 3 billion pesos to be distributed among the parties, while in non-electoral years the amounts hover around 1200 million RD.
The RD $ 630 million to be delivered to political organizations represents the least amount paid by the government.