Legislative Assembly Work Divided by Fractions

DISPUTES in the LegislativeAssembly are no longer just between parties,but also within the parties themselves,increasingly complicating congressionalwork, the daily El Heraldo de laNueva Era reported.The premature arrival of the campaignseason is one of the reasons behind thedivisions, as legislators are determined toguarantee their own interests before the2006 national elections, according to thereport.Legislators also attributed the divisionsto lack of leadership among the partiesand polarization over certain issuessuch as the proposed Permanent FiscalReform Plan, the selection of theComptroller General, Alex Solís, and thesubsequent charges against him nowunder investigation.Fractioning within parties has createdseven different political parties, whereasin 2002 there were five.Various legislators have jumped shipfrom their parties to others or to createnew parties.In 2002, José Francisco Salasresigned from the Libertarian MovementParty and created the AuthenticHeredian Party. In February 2003, variousdeputies separated from the CitizenAction Party (PAC) to create theParliamentary Patriotic Bloc.In May, Emilia Rodríguez left thatgroup and joined the Democratic NationalAlliance (ADN), also created this year(TT, May 7).