Title XV. General and Transitory Provisions
Chapter I. General Provisions
Article 273. Grammatical genders
The grammatical genders that are adopted in the wording of the text of this Constitution do not signify, in any way, restriction to the principle of equality of rights of women and men.
Article 274. Constitutional term of elected officials
The elected exercise of the President and Vice President of the Republic, as well as the legislative representatives and parliamentary members of international organs, shall end uniformly on the 16th of August of every four years, the date on which the corresponding constitutional term begins, with the exceptions given in this Constitution.
Paragraph I
The municipal authorities elected on the third Sunday of February of each four years shall take possession on the 24th of April of the same year.
Paragraph II
When an elected official stops in the exercise of the office due to death, resignation, disqualification or another reason, he who substitutes him shall remain in the exercise of the office until the term is complete.
Article 275. Term of officials of constitutional organs
The members of constitutional organs, once the period of the mandate for which they were appointed ends, shall remain in their offices until those who substitute them take possession.
Article 276. Oath of appointed officials
Thee person appointed to exercise a public office shall take an oath to respect the Constitution and the laws, and to faithfully carry out the duties of his office. This path shall be taken before an appropriate public functionary or official.
Article 277. Decisions with authority of an irrevocably judged matter
All judicial decisions that have acquired the authority of an irrevocably judged matter, especially those dictated in an exercise of direct control of the constitutionality by the Supreme Court of Justice, until the moment of the proclamation of the present Constitution, may not be examined by the Constitutional Court and those after shall be subject to the process that the law that rules the subject determines.
Chapter II. On the Transitory Provisions
First
The Council of Judicial Power shall be created within the six months after the entrance into effect of the present Constitution.
Second
The Constitutional Court, established in the present Constitution, shall be formed within the twelve months following the entrance into effect of the same.
Third
The Supreme Court of Justice shall maintain the functions attributed by this Constitution to the Constitutional Court and to the Council of Judicial Power until these instances have been integrated.
Fourth
The current judges of the Supreme Court of Justice that are not left in retirement by having reached seventy-five years of age shall be submitted to an evaluation of work by the National Council of Magistrature, which shall determine their confirmation.
Fifth
The Superior Council of the Public Ministry shall carry out the functions established in the present Constitution within the six months following the entry into effect of the same.
Sixth
The existing Contentious Administrative and Tax Court shall become the Superior Administrative Court created by this Constitution. The Supreme Court of Justice shall provide the administrative methods necessary for its adaptation, until the Council of Judicial Power is integrated.
Seventh
The current members of the Central Electoral Board shall remain in their offices until the conformation of the new organs created by the present Constitution and the appointment of their incumbents.
Eighth
The provisions related to the Central Electoral Board and to the Superior Electoral Court established in this Constitution shall enter into effect starting from the new integration that is produced in the period that begins on the 16th of August of 2010. Exceptionally, the members of those electoral organs shall exercise their mandate until the 16th of August of 2016.
Ninth
The process of appointment that is established in the present Constitution for the members of the Chamber of Accounts shall rule beginning on the 16th of August of the year 2010. Exceptionally, the members of this organ shall remain in their offices until 2016.
Tenth
The dispositions contained in article 272 related to the approval referendum, by exception, are not applicable to the present constitutional reform.
Eleventh
The laws to which observations are made by the Executive Power that have not been decided by the National Congress at the moment of the entrance into effect of this Constitution, shall be approved in the two ordinary legislatures following the proclamation of the present Constitution. Once this period has ended, the same shall be considered as not initiated.
Twelfth
All the authorities elected through direct vote in the congressional and municipal elections of the year 2010, exceptionally, shall last in their offices until the 16th of August 2016.
Thirteenth
The male and female deputies, to be elected in representation of the Dominican communities in the exterior shall be elected, exceptionally the third Sunday of May of the year 2012 for a period of four years.
Fourteenth
By exception, the electoral assemblies to elect the municipal authorities shall be celebrated in the year 2010 and 2016 the third Sunday of May.
Fifteenth
The contracts pending decision left with the National Congress at the time of the approval of the provisions contained in article 128, number 2, part d, of this Constitution shall exhaust the legislations steps provided in the Constitution of the year 2002.
Sixteenth
The law that shall regulate the general organization and administration of the State shall provide that related to the ministries to which Article 134 of this Constitution refers. This law shall enter into effect at the latest in October of 2011, with the objective that the new provisions are incorporated in the General Budges of the State for the following year.
Seventeenth
That provided in this Constitution for the elaboration and approval of the Law of General Budget of the State shall enter into full effect beginning on the first of January of 2010, in such a manner that for the year 2011 the country will have a budget in accordance with that established in this Constitution.
Eighteenth
The budgetary provisions for the implementation of the organs that are created in the present Constitution shall be contained in the budget of 2010, in a manner that ensures its full entry into effect in the year 2011.
Nineteenth
In order to guarantee the gradual renovation of the membership of the Constitutional Court, by exception of that provided in Article 187, its first thirteen member shall be substituted in three groups, two of four and one of five, at six, nine, and twelve years of exercise, respectively, through a random process. The first four judges to leave, by exception, may be considered for a single new period.
Twentieth
In the case that the President of the Republic corresponding to the constitutional term 2012-2016 is a candidate for the same office for the constitutional period 2016-2020, he may not present himself for the following term nor any other term nor for the Vice Presidency of the Republic.
Final Provision
Final Provision
This Constitution shall enter into effect starting from its proclamation by the National Assembly and its full and immediate publication ordered.
