SANTO DOMINGO.- The Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA Group) participates as an international observer in the general elections that Dominican Republic will celebrate on Sunday, May 19.
The mission of the former heads of State and Government is made up of former presidents Andrés Pastrana (Colombia), Jamil Mahuad (Ecuador), Luis Lacalle (Uruguay), Jorge Quiroga (Bolivia), former governor Luis Fortuño (Puerto Rico) and Asdrúbal Aguiar , executive director of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA).
In an interview with DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, on Friday, May 17, former president Andrés Pastrana noted that “things are going very well. We were in the local elections in February of this year and there was a whole democratic party with full guarantees from the Government , a good organization on the part of the Central Electoral Board and on this occasion we are seeing similar things and some corrections have been made by the Board, by the Government.”
Pastrana said that the IDEA Group representation already spoke with President Luis Abinader, candidate for re-election, with candidate Abel Martínez ((Dominican Liberation Party-PLD), and with former presidents Hipólito Mejías and Danilo Medina, and on Saturday May 18 he will meet with former president and candidate Leonel Fernández ((La Fuerza del Pueblo- FP).
“We seek to dialogue with each of the candidates to find out what their complaints are or if they need to make some corrections, or if we need to do something to make the process clearer and more transparent, and additionally we also met with the head of the Mission of the OAS, former President Eduardo Frei,” said Pastrana.
Quiet elections
The former president of Colombia He indicated that on Sunday, May 19, “calm and democratic” elections will be held, it will be a democratic party. He also said that it is estimated that the first results of the elections in the Dominican Republic will be known around 8:30 at night and then bulletins every half hour.
On the other hand, Pastrana pointed out that the greatest concern of the IDEA Group in this year 2024, in which elections have been held in several countries, are the upcoming elections presidential elections on July 28 in Venezuela.
“In Venezuela there will once again be a non-democratic process, a process in which the narco-dictatorship is placing all the obstacles and is not giving all the guarantees to the political parties and the candidate who won the primaries, María Corina Machado, has not been allowed to , to be a presidential candidate. It is the same old electoral farce that we have seen in the drug dictatorship,” he stated.
@snederr
Source: IDEA GROUP /Andrés Pastrana
