It’s today, it’s today! Dominicans go to the polls to elect new municipal authorities

Santo Domingo.– The countdown ended today, and from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. this Sunday, some 8,103,291 Dominicans will be able to exercise their right to vote in the municipal elections, thus deciding the country’s destiny for the next four years.

One hundred fifty-eight mayorships, 1,164 town councils, 235 municipal directorates, and 735 voting officers are the positions to be disputed in the electoral contest at the municipal level.

A total of 3,849 public positions are to be elected in elections in which the different political parties, among them the ruling Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM), the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD), and the recently created Fuerza del Pueblo (FP) are battling for victory at the end of the day.

The road to get to this day has not been easy: intense caravans, street tours, ambitious proposals from the candidates, complaints from the opposition for possible sabotage of the elections, and more complaints from the opposition, considering that the ruling party has been using state resources to favor its candidates for these elections, are just some of the events that have permeated the public arena.

The time for political activity ceased at midnight on Thursday, respecting the same electoral law in Article 177, which states that all electoral campaign activities must cease. Now, it is up to the citizens to evaluate the candidates’ proposals and decide.

The Central Electoral Board indicated that there will be 4,420 precincts and 17,317 polling stations for these elections. For these elections, 18,198 people registered to run for any positions in dispute.

Yesterday morning, the president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Román Jáquez Liranzo, reported that “everything was perfect” and urged citizens to get up “very early” to exercise their right to vote.

In addition, during a Listín Breakfast, the members of the JCE assured that to avoid a situation similar to the one experienced in 2020, for elections, manual voting will be used and, in turn, the implementation of technology, with the clear objective of preventing possible electoral mishaps.

Likewise, he pointed out that after the voting closes, at five o’clock in the afternoon, the digitalization of the votes will begin, and to guarantee transparency, Liranzo affirmed that it is a process that can be filmed.

“This is transparent; from the moment it closes, at five o’clock in the afternoon, all the delegates, all those present there, can record the process; there will be international observers, of course, without interrupting the development of the scrutiny in progress,” the president pointed out.

According to this newspaper’s journalistic archives, in the country’s municipal elections in March 2020, only 40.14% of the total number of registered voters with the right to vote participated.

THOSE WHO ARE IN THE RACE
In the National District, Carolina Mejía is running for reelection. The current mayor for the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM) will compete with Domingo Contreras of the Alianza Rescate RD, with Rosaleda Reynoso of the Generación de Servidores (GenS) party, with Franiel Genao, of the Opción Democrática party and with Gregorio Corporán, of the Partido Patria para Todos (PPT).

In Santo Domingo East, Dío Astacio (PRM), Luis Alberto Tejeda (PLD), Julio Romero of the People’s Force (FP), Wanda Rosado (PRD), Juan Francisco de León (PPT), Elizabeth Peña Rubio (GenS) and Juan Evangelista Navarro of the PED will be competing.

In Santo Domingo Norte the dispute will be between Betty Gerónimo (PRM), Carlos Guzmán (Rescate RD), Fidelia Rincón of the Frente Amplio, Aracelis Jiménez (PPT), Luisa Fernández (PSC), Freddy Pefvalin (GenS) and Wilson Antonio Marte of the Partido Primero la Gente (PPG).

In Santo Domingo Oeste: Francisco Peña (PRM), Aquilino Serrata (Rescate RD), Juana María Paulino (GenS), and Eduardo Miguel Santos of the PED will face off.

The municipality of Los Alcarrizos is perhaps the district with the most names in the race: Cristian Encarnación of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Junior Santos (PRM), Jesús Martínez Alberty (Rescate RD), Ramona Evangelista of the Alianza País party (AlPaís) and David Ovalles of the Frente Amplio, are the candidates for mayor of this municipality.

INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATION
The organizations of international electoral observation missions that will participate in the development of municipal elections at the national level are the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations (UNIORE), the Center for Electoral Advisory and Promotion of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH/CAPEL), the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the Association of Women Electoral Magistrates of America (AMEA).

Also, the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America (COPPAL), the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (CEELA), the Delegation of the European Union in the Dominican Republic (EU), the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), the International Network Politics is a Women’s Issue, the Electoral Institute of Mexico City (IECM), the International Center for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS) and the Latin American Youth Network for Democracy (Red Latinoamericana de Jóvenes por la Democracia).