Dominican Congress in turmoil: opposition skips Abinader’s speech over election concerns

Santo Domingo.– The spokesperson for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) bloc of deputies, Luis Henríquez, announced today that the parliamentary bloc of the Dominican Liberation and Dominican Revolutionary parties that make up the opposition in the National Congress, announced that its members in full, will not attend the National Assembly hall from where President Luis Abinader will deliver his accountability speech, this Tuesday, February 27th.

The Dominican Liberation and Dominican Revolutionary parties expressed that they have adopted this decision as a sign of protest and rejection of the excessive use of state resources in favor of the ruling party’s candidates in the recent electoral process, an action that weakens the legitimacy of the elected representatives and the confidence of the citizenry in the political system.

In this sense, they indicated that they will not attend the National Assembly hall to send a message to the country and the government that, from the first power of the State, they do not agree with the actions of the officials and the executive branch, in the face of what they described as a clear and abusive use of the national budget in favor of a political organization and to the detriment of the country’s democratic institutionality.

Among these abuses of the current government, they highlighted the actions of buying leaders and elected authorities, such as legislators, mayors, and councilors throughout the national territory, feeding and promoting transfuguism as a common practice in Dominican politics.

The senators and deputies pointed out that these corrupt practices in the political sphere, together with the harassment of voters and leaders, highlight the hypocrisy of the PRM and its government that have wanted to sell themselves as standard-bearers in the fight against corruption, but erode democratic ethics by engaging in illegitimate actions to achieve power.

They deplored the appointment of central government officials as political leaders in regions and provinces, from where they made political commitments to solve them with the burden of the public payroll and the national budget.

In an unprecedented act, the opposition legislators rejected the undermining of the civic character of the polling stations, with the installation of campaign headquarters around each polling center, with the presence of leaders and militants of the ruling party, campaigning on the same day of the elections.

The opposition senators and deputies understand that the reports presented by the Organization of American States and Citizen Participation, as observers of the electoral process, should draw the attention of the authorities of the Central Electoral Board to prevent them from repeating in the upcoming elections and to guarantee a more equitable and fair campaign and electoral day.