Provinces of the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is divided into thirty-one provincias (provinces; singular provincia), while the national capital, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is contained within its own Distrito Nacional ("national district"; "D.N." on the map below).

The division of the country into provinces is laid down in the constitution (Titulo I Seccion II Art. 5 2002 constitution)^[1] and enacted by law. Currently by law 5220 about the territorial division of the Dominican Republic (Ley No. 5220 sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana) issued 1959 and frequently amended to create new provinces and lower level administrative units.

The provinces as administrative divisions

The provinces are the first-level administrative subdivision of the country. The headquarters of the central governments regional offices are normally in the capital city of a province. The president appoints an administrative governor (Gobernador Civil) for each province but not for the Distrito Nacional (Titulo IX 2002 constitution).^[1]

The provinces are divided into municipalities (municipios) which are the second level political and administrative subdivisions of the country (Titulo I Seccion II Art. 5 2002 constitution).^[1]

The Distrito Nacional was created in 1936. Prior to this creation the Distrito National was the old Santo Domingo province, not to be confused with the new Santo Domingo province split from it in 2001, existing since the countries independence in 1844. While it is similar to a province in many ways it differs in not having an administrative governor and consisting only of one municipality, Santo Domingo, the city council (ayuntamiento) and mayor (Síndico) of which are in charge of its administration.^[2]

The provinces as constituencies

The provinces are also constituencies for the elections to the bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la República). Each electing one member of the Senate (Senado) and members of the Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados) with one deputy per 50,000 inhabitants or fraction in excess of 25,000, and a guaranteed minimum of two per province (Titulo IV 2002 constitution).^[1] ^[3]

Statistics

The following is a table of the provinces and their capital cities.^[4] Population figures in the following table are from the 2002 census.^[5]

External links

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Citations

[1] http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/DomRep/domrep02.html, Asamblea Nacional, CONSTITUCION POLITICA DE LA REPBULICA DOMINICANA DE 2002, Spanish.
[2] http://www.informejudicial.com/leyes/Division%20Territorial/Ley%20163-01,%20crea%20Provincia%20Santo%20Domingo%20y%20Modifica%20Articulos%201%20y%202%20Ley%205220.htm, EL CONGRESO NACIONAL, Ley No. 163-01 que crea la provincia de Santo Domingo, y modifica los Artículos 1 y 2 de la Ley No. 5220, sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana., Spanish.
[3] http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Electoral/DomRep/ley97.html, EL CONGRESO NACIONAL, Ley Electoral, No. 275-97, Spanish.
[4] http://www.statoids.com/udo.html, Gwillim Law - Statoids, Provinces of the Dominican Republic.
[5] http://one.gob.do/censo/volumen_I_pdf.zip, Oficina Nacional de Estadística, VIII Censo 2002 Poplación y Vivienda, Spanish.

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