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 country's 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]}

New Province

The Senate converted last night in laws three projects by means of which the province is created Matías Ramón Mella and its respective communities, whose congressional authorities and policemen will be chosen in the elections of May 16, the year 2010. The new demarcation was created inside the territory of the province Santo Domingo, according to the dispositions of the three original laws of the senator of this province, Tonty Rutinel Domínguez. The government bill, of the responsibility of the senator Tonty Rutinel, was approved by 79 present representatives in the session, since prior to the subjugation of the initiative in second reading, the group of the PLD withdrew. After extensive debates, the legislators approved, shortly after the 11:00 at night, the creation of the municipalities of San José of Mendoza, Los Frailes and San Luis, that will belong to the province Santo Domingo, and the municipalities of San José de Mendoza, Los Frailes y San Luis that belong to the municipality Santo Domingo Norte, that from the new law they will integrate the new province the same as Villa Mella. Also the new municipality of Hato Nuevo was created, that currently belongs to Santo Domingo Oeste. The government bill that creates the new province order that their capital will be a Herrera and that the municipal authorities will be chosen in the parliamentary general elections and policemen of the 2010. ^[4]

Statistics

The following is a table of the provinces and their capital cities.^[5] Population figures in the following table are from the 2008 census.^[6]

Flag	Coats of Arms	Province	Capital	Area (km²)[7]	Population	Density[7]	Map
		Azua	Azua de Compostela				1
		Baoruco	Neiba				2
		Barahona	Santa Cruz de Barahona				3
		Dajabón	Dajabón				4
		Distrito Nacional	Santo Domingo de Guzmán				5
		Duarte	San Francisco de Macorís				6
		Elías Piña	Comendador				7
		El Seibo	Santa Cruz de El Seibo				8
		Espaillat	Moca				9
		Hato Mayor	Hato Mayor del Rey				10
		Hermanas Mirabal	Salcedo				11
		Independencia	Jimaní				12
		La Altagracia	Salvaleón de Higüey				13
		La Romana	La Romana				14
		La Vega	Concepción de la Vega				15
		María Trinidad Sánchez	Nagua				16
		Matías Ramón Mella	Herrera				17
		Monseñor Nouel	Bonao				18
		Monte Cristi	San Fernando de Monte Cristi				19
		Monte Plata	San Rafael de Monte Plata				20
		Pedernales	Pedernales				21
		Peravia	Baní				22
		Puerto Plata	San Felipe de Puerto Plata				23
		Samaná	Santa Bárbara de Samaná				24
		Sánchez Ramírez	Cotuí				25
		San Cristóbal	San Cristóbal				26
		San José de Ocoa	San José de Ocoa				27
		San Juan	San Juan de la Maguana				28
		San Pedro de Macorís	San Pedro de Macorís				29
		Santiago	Santiago de los Caballeros				30
		Santiago Rodríguez	San Ignacio de Sabaneta				31
		Santo Domingo	Santo Domingo Este				32
		Valverde	Santa Cruz de Mao				33
		Total

Map

References

External links

• Political Database of the Americas Dominican 2002 Constitution
• Oficina Nacional de Estadística, Statistics Portal of the Dominican Republic
• www.puertoplata.com - Official Guide to Puerto Plata and the Dominican Republic

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