U.S. envoy cautions against lopsided political power

Santo Domingo.- United States ambassador James W. Brewster on Tuesday cautioned against the concentration of so much power in the hands of just one political party in Dominican Republic.

The diplomat, whose statement will likely draw rebuke as meddling, said various political forces should coexist in the country’s system of parties, to bolster democracy. "There must be multiple parties, is their duty to be very solid, very robust, the powers shouldn’t be concentrated, there must be several important, solid parties."

“It’s the Dominican people is important that Dominicans themselves must decide which form of political system they’ll adopt in a democracy like this, a Dominican democracy, a Dominican system which must determine how it will go and evolve politically," Brewster said on "El Sol de Mañana" radio program.

The diplomat stressed that Washington doesn’t meddle in the creation of parties, or in a country’s elections, because that’s the democratic system and the vote of citizens of each country, to determine how their political system is going to be.

Brewster added that his meetings with the presidents of the parties PLD, Leonel Fernández; and of PRD, Miguel Vargas, and PRM senior leaders Luis Abinader and Hipolito Mejia sought to get to know the concerns and suggestions from important figures.

The ruling PLD party controls both chambers of Congress, a majority of the city councils, and the Constitutional, Supreme, and Electoral courts through appointments.