Political surveys and pollsters are strictly regulated

Santo Domingo.-  Political surveys and polls have new regulations in the Electoral Law and the companies that conduct them and must be recognized by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) and meet the requirements to publish results.

The law allows duly certified firms to conduct surveys or exit polls, as long as they are deposited in the JCE in sealed envelopes, but the results can not be disclosed until three hours after the polls close.

To make surveys the companies must be supervised by the JCE’s Elections Office.

“Polls and surveys are the activities that establish the opinion or preferences of a group of people, selected at random, through the sampling procedure, to which they are asked questions about certain candidates, political organizations or electoral situations,” according to Article 198.

Registration of polling firms

Article 199 of the Law approved last week, empowers the JCE to create a register of polling firms in electoral and political matters, under the supervision of the Elections Directorate. It’s the fundamental requirement that the law imposes on pollsters to conduct and publish polls.

Terms

The Electoral Law requires pollster to submit the documents evidencing their corporate name: corporate bylaws, updated list of shareholders, composition of the board of directors, and whether it has international representation (subsidiary).