Politics of The Dominican Republic - Executive Branch

Executive Branch

The Executive has long been the dominant branch in the Dominican governmental system. The president of the Dominican Republic is both the Head of State and the Head of Government, and is Commander in Chief of the armed forces.

A cabinet of ministers ("Secretarios de Estado") that he designates assists the President in his functions. Since August 2004, the President of the Republic is Leonel Fernández and the Vice President is Rafael Alburquerque, of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), which won in the first election round with a majority vote of 57.11%.

The President and Vice President are elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a four-year term, and they can be re-elected only for a consecutive period, according to the last amendment made to the Constitution in 2002. Elections are held in years evenly divisible by four.

The Dominican Constitution takes twenty-seven paragraphs to spell out the president's extensive powers. Among the most important are those that grant him authority over virtually all appointments and removals of public officials, and even popular elected ones; empower him to promulgate the laws passed by Congress; direct him to engage in diplomatic relations; and empower him to command, to deploy, and to make appointments in, the armed forces. The president also has vast emergency powers to suspend basic rights in times of emergency, to defer the legislature, to declare a state of siege, and to rule by decree.

The 1966 Constitution provides for ministers and subcabinet ministers to assist in public administration. These officials must be Dominican citizens, at least twenty-five years of age, with full civil and political rights. The powers of the ministers are determined by law. However, the president is constitutionally responsible for the actions of his ministers. Ministers serve at the president's discretion, and function both as administrators of their ministries and as agents of presidential authority.