File No. 839.00/1416.
[Inclosure—Translation.]
The Minister for Foreign
Relations to Chargé White.
Office of Fobeign Relations,
Santo Domingo,
June 27, 1914.
Mr. Minister: In continuation of our last
interview I have the honor to confirm to your excellency what was
said therein, viz, that within our constitutional system the legal
status of President Bordas is as follows:
Appointed by Congress on April 13, 1913, “to fill ad interim the
office of President of the Republic and to call elections for a
permanent president within a period not exceeding one year,” he
performed this mandate by calling in due time the primaries for the
selection of electors who were to choose the new Senators and
Deputies as well as the new President.
Abnormal causes, completely beyond the control of President Bordas,
of which your excellency is aware, prevented the holding of said
elections in five of the twelve provinces into which the Republic is
divided, they having been held only in nine provinces, and four of
them were incomplete; notwithstanding this, however, as soon as
normal conditions prevail again the constitutional precept will be
carried out by holding supplementary elections in the provinces in
question, and this Government hopes that this will occur within a
short period.
President Bordas, in conformity with article 34 of the Constitution,
issued another decree convoking the National Assembly, “which is to
examine the electoral returns as appearing from the general ballot
count, proclaim the newly elected candidate, swear him in, and if
necessary accept his resignation.”
This National Assembly, which is to meet on the 30th of this month
unless prevented by fresh obstacles, will be called upon to decide
as to the validity or invalidity of the election.
President Bordas, on his part, is fulfilling an unavoidable duty by
adhering strictly to the wording of Article 49 of the Constitution,
which article governs and defines his present situation by providing
that “when the case occurs of inability, resignation, removal, or
death of the President of the Republic, Congress shall, by means of
a law, designate [as it has already done by virtue of the
aforementioned law of April 13] what person is to discharge the
duties of President until the inability ceases or a new President is
elected.”
Consequently President Bordas is indisputably acting within the
letter and spirit of the Constitution pending the fulfillment of the
above-mentioned formality, that is, the election of a new
President.
From the foregoing it appears clearly and conclusively that President
Bordas does not cease to hold the office intrusted to him by said
law of April 13, 1913, except by virtue of the following two
circumstances: That the new President shall be elected by the
electoral colleges, as plainly stipulated in Article 85 of the
Constitution, for President Bordas does not come within any of the
four cases contemplated in Article 49, viz, inability, resignation,
removal, or death, which are the only ones in which Congress may
designate the person who is to hold the Provisional Presidency of
the Republic; or that the National Assembly should have decided with
regard to the validity or invalidity of the election for Permanent
President, this being a condition sine qua non and an indispensable
adjunct to the election.
And that July 1 next is not to be regarded as the date of expiration,
as supposed by some, is shown by the provisions of Article 51 of the
Constitution, to the effect that “in ordinary elections the
President elect of the Republic shall take possession on the day
ending the term of the retiring President [that is, July 1] in case
of a normal transmission of power, and in extraordinary cases eight
days after being officially notified of the election, if he is at
the capital, and thirty days if he should be in any other part of
the Republic.”
I avail [etc.]
