Should Dominicans be forced to vote?

Santo Domingo.-  The Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus) on Wed. called the proposal to establish mandatory voting unconstitutional.

“Voting in the Dominican Republic is a right and a duty, not an obligation. If it’s established as an obligation, penalties must be established, and that’s very complex,” said Finjus executive vice president Servio Tulio Castaños

He cited article 208 of the Constitution which indicates that the vote is personal, free, direct and secret, so no one can be coerced under any pretext in the exercise of their right to vote. “You cannot seek to establish authoritarian measures in a practice that must be democratic,” he said.

Defender

Minority opposition party (PRSC) general secretary Ramón Rogelio Genao defends the proposal, affirming that it averts “pseudo-abstention by purchase or sequestering of the electoral ID, and encourages the participative sovereignty.”