Dominican Republic - Elections - 2020s
Election - 2020 - Local
On 16 February 2020 the nationwide electoral process was suspended due to a glitch in the electronic voting system, four hours after they officially started. The Dominican Republic’s Central Electoral Board (JCE) announced that the municipal elections suspended on Feb. 16 will be held on March 15 with only paper ballots to avoid issues with the electronic votes.
The opposition parties denounced the suspension and delegates to the JCE from the Modern Revolutionary (PRM), People's Force (FP) and Christian Social Reform (PRSC) parties suggested that the Organization of American States (OAS) should intervene to help that the parties achieve a consensus and that they can set a new date for municipal elections.
The electronic system was used in 18 of the 158 municipalities and focused on cities and regions with high population density, accounting for 62.4 percent of the electorate. Paper ballots were due to be used elsewhere. The Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramon Peralta urged for the municipal elections to be called “as soon as possible to prevent the country from falling into chaos and guaranteed that the Executive will seek the necessary resources to hold these elections.”
A total of 7,487,040 Dominicans will once again be called to the polls to elect 158 mayors, the same number of vice mayors, 1,164 councilors and their alternates, 235 directors and deputy directors and 735 members, who will take office on April 24 for a period of four years. These elections are decisive both for the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), which together with its allies controls 107 of the 158 mayors, as well as for the opposition Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), which is leading 30, including the of the National District, the center of the capital.
The Dominican Republic has a poor record on corruption, ranking 137th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption index. It has been particularly key issue in this election cycle after protests in recent years over the involvement of some local officials in a Latin America-wide fraud scandal involving the Brazilian construction Odebrecht. The corporate giant has admitted to doling out $92m in bribes in the Domincan Republic in exchange for winning public works contracts.
The election campaigning has been unlike any other in the tourist-magnet Caribbean republic's history, overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the country's population of 10 million hard. The Republic - which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti - has registered more than 34,000 infections from the coronavirus, with more than 800 deaths. The outbreak forced Medina's government to declare a national lockdown, banning large public gatherings and shutting borders - a massive economic blow to one of the strongest growing economies in the region. The state of emergency was lifted only this week as parties made a final drive for votes.
The Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the Extraordinary General Presidential, Senatorial and Deputation Elections in the Dominican Republic arrived June 29, 2020 in Santo Domingo to begin the field observation tasks for elections on Sunday, July 5. Specialists in women's political participation, political financing, electoral justice, and other members of the Mission who carry out support tasks are working from their home countries.
Voters in the Dominican Republic were set to defy rising coronavirus infections to choose a new president in an election that could end 16 years of unbroken rule by the center-left Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). In the elections 05 July 2020, the people will elect the new president and vice president, 32 senators, and 190 Members of Parliament for the 2020-2024 period.
The presidential candidates are Gonzalo Castillo from the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Luis Abinader from the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Leonel Fernandez representing the People's Force (FP), Guillermo Moreno from Alianza Pais (AlPais), Juan Cohen from the National Citizen's Will Party (PNVC), and Ismael Reyes from the Institutional Democratic Party (PDI).
Opposition candidate Luis Abinader is favorite in the election, having taken a commanding lead in opinion polls despite being forced to abandon his campaign after he tested positive for COVID-19. Abinader, a 52-year-old businessman, recovered sufficiently to close out his campaign at a rally on 01 July 2020.
PLD party's Gonzalo Castillo, a former public works minister, is standing for the PLD because outgoing President Danilo Medina cannot seek another term under the Republic's constitution.
A Gallup poll gives Abinader, from the opposition Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) more than 53 percent of voter intentions, 20 points ahead of the ruling PLD party's Gonzalo Castillo. Another poll gives Abinader a slimmer 12 point margin. Former president Leonel Fernandez, 66, trails in third place with 8.6 percent. Fernandez ruled for a total of three four-year terms between 1996 and 2012. Three other candidates are contesting the presidency from minor parties. If none of the six presidential candidates receive more than 50 percent of the votes, the two applicants with the majority of votes will go to the second round of elections on July 26.
The 53-year-old businessman, Luis Abinader, who had never held elected office, won a four-year term on July 5. With about 60% of the votes counted, Luis Abinader of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) had 53% of the votes. Tthe candidate for the Dominican Liberation Party, Gonzalo Castillo, was in second place with 37% of the votes. After 16 years, the center-left Dominican Liberation Party is out of the power in the Caribbean country. The new president, Luis Abinader, a businessman turned politician, was sworn in 17 August 2020. He had finished second in the 2016 presidential election.
Now, he will lead a country plagued by corruption, a fragile economy, and the coronavirus epidemic. A trained economist who studied at Harvard and Dartmouth College in the United States, his family are hotel owners and work in tourism. It`s a major industry and significant money earner in the Dominican Republic and has been very hard hit by the Pandemic. The country has been lambasted by Covid with the current Government being criticized for not encouraging lockdown early enough and of restarting normal life too soon.
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