Roque Espaillat “El Cobrador” emerges as the Most Voted minority candidate
![](https://dominicantoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Roque-Espaillat.png)
Santo Domingo.- The Democratic Hope party, founded and led by Ramfis Domínguez Trujillo, the grandson of dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961), garnered over 1% of the votes in the presidential and legislative elections held this Sunday in the Dominican Republic.
Ramfis Trujillo’s candidacy was challenged by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) due to his dual Dominican and American nationality. The Constitution stipulates that only Dominican nationality is valid for presidential candidates. This issue also prevented him from participating in the 2020 elections.
Despite these obstacles, the JCE legalized Trujillo’s party, which fielded Roque Espaillat, popularly known as ‘el Cobrador,’ as its presidential candidate. Espaillat secured 1.28% of the votes with 35% of the valid votes, according to the latest bulletin from the electoral body.
In these elections, where President Luis Abinader was re-elected, seven other candidates participated, including three-time president Leonel Fernández and former Chamber of Deputies president Abel Martínez.
The percentage achieved by Ramfis Trujillo’s party exceeded that of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), once one of the most powerful political organizations in the country. The PRD and its candidate, former Dominican chancellor Miguel Vargas Maldonado, received only 0.47% of the votes.
If the current voting trend continues, the Democratic Hope party would rank fourth among political parties, a significant surprise in this election.
Abinader and the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) secured 58.69% of the votes, Fernández and his People’s Force (FP) received 27.39%, and Martínez and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) obtained 10.75%.
Apart from these major parties, only Ramfis Trujillo’s party achieved more than 1%, with his strong nationalist rhetoric resonating with some voters. The JCE recognizes as majority parties those that secure at least 5% of the votes in presidential elections.
Although Ramfis Trujillo’s party remains a minority, it surpasses five other organizations, ranking just behind the three major Dominican parties.
Other candidates included Carlos Peña from the Generations of Servers party with 0.66%, Virginia Antares from the Democratic Option (OD) with 0.53%, María Teresa Cabrera from the Broad Front (FA) with 0.13%, and Fulgencio Severino from the Homeland Party for All with 0.06%.
Trujillo has defended some actions taken by his grandfather during his dictatorship, such as repaying the foreign debt, securing women’s right to vote, and making the Dominican Republic the third country in Latin America to establish television. Additionally, he has advocated for the “mass deportation” of all undocumented Haitians.
The right man for the job. Unfortunately we have a bunch of people in Dominican Republic who see as a business and not a country.
This guy is totally insignificant in DR politics…and with a nickname like that can’t be trusted…
But you have proof the other presidents. Corruption and mismanagement. That’s why the Dr is a third world country.
That’s why people like you. The Dr is a third world country. Illegal immigration corruption in all sectors of society. High crimes low education and non working hospitals. And a population that’s is dying to get to the USA or Europe. Good luck four more years
DR is a third world country cause of little old me…I was unaware of the power I have …lol
I said people like you. That treat the nation as a business instead of a country. If you notice that the same policies are the ones that are hurting the country. And you others keep voting for status qou. I wonder why ????
it only tells us who, our next president will be