Santo Domingo.- Of 20 Latin American countries analyzed, the Dominican Republic is the third smallest in territory, but sixth largest in the number of lawmakers.
The country’s area of just over 48,000 square kilometers pays 222 legislators in a bicameral congress, with 190 deputies and 32 senators. In contrast, Bolivia, with over one million square kilometers, has just 166 lawmakers (130 deputies and 36 senators).
Costa Rica, with an area of 51,100 square kilometers (2,430 more than Dominican Republic), has a unicameral congress with just 57 deputies, according to a compilation by diariolibre.com.
Each deputy is elected in jurisdictions of 50,000 inhabitants or fraction of more than 25,000; an additional five are elected nationally by accumulated votes and seven chosen to represent Dominicans abroad, totaling 190.
The country’s 32 senators are elected one for each province and one for the National District, for 4-year terms. .
Big burden
The 2017 Budget’s allocation for the Congress topped RD$6.1billion.