The Dominican opposition party Fuerza del Pueblo on Wednesday accused the government of creating a crisis of legal confidence by disobeying court rulings and pushing laws through Congress to serve political interests.
Hotoniel Bonilla Garcia, head of the party's Secretariat of Justice, delivered the accusations during the official presentation of the party's legal department and its preliminary report on the rule of law, the justice system, and human dignity in the Dominican Republic.
Bonilla said the government's legislative practices were reactive, improvised, and subordinated to the executive branch, creating regulatory instability and eroding public confidence.
Fuerza del Pueblo is one of the main opposition parties in the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean nation of more than 11 million people. The party was established in 2019 by former president Leonel Fernandez following a split from the ruling political block.
Controversial legislative changes
The opposition report highlighted several major national laws that had undergone rapid or repeated amendments shortly after being enacted by the National Congress in Santo Domingo.
Bonilla cited recent changes to the Public Procurement and Contracting Law, legislation governing public trusts, and Law 66-23, which extended airport concession contracts across the country.
He also pointed to recent reforms made to the Solid Waste Management Law and modifications introduced to the Penal Code before the revised criminal code had even come into force.
According to the party, using an official majority in Congress to pass laws tailored to specific situations weakens democratic institutions and creates insecurity for citizens and economic sectors.
Constitutional Court rulings ignored
Fuerza del Pueblo further accused the administration of failing to comply with key decisions issued by the Constitutional Court, the nation's highest tribunal for constitutional matters.
Bonilla said authorities continued to collect a 10 dollar tourist card fee in direct violation of sentence TC/1003-2023, which was handed down by the high court to establish clear criteria on the charge.
The party also questioned a recent increase in the national departure tax and criticised the passage of Law 1-24 governing the National Intelligence Directorate, parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the court.
In response to these issues, the party announced that its Secretariat of Justice would launch a formal monitoring system to track government compliance with Constitutional Court rulings and safeguard judicial independence.
Monitoring mechanism and legal reforms
The new monitoring initiative will track actions that could compromise legal certainty and the rule of law, while following cases involving fundamental rights and the conduct of state security agencies.
Fuerza del Pueblo also outlined plans to promote a broader reform agenda aimed at strengthening the judicial system and protecting the independence of both the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The Public Prosecutor's Office, known in the Dominican Republic as the Ministerio Publico, serves as the independent state body responsible for leading criminal prosecutions and upholding legal norms.
Concerns over crime and disappearances
During his address, Bonilla raised serious concerns about citizen security, stating that six years into the current administration, the country still lacked a comprehensive strategy to combat crime.
He said thousands of Dominican families were suffering the distress of missing relatives without receiving timely responses from law enforcement or judicial authorities.
The party chief highlighted persistent weaknesses in official statistics, search procedures, and missing persons investigations across government agencies.
Bonilla also addressed deaths resulting from actions by public force agents, demanding that every incident involving state security officers be investigated with total independence, transparency, and due process.
Finally, he called for a complete overhaul of the national prison system to focus on rehabilitation and social reintegration, arguing that effective penitentiary policies were essential to reduce reoffending and prevent crime.
