SANTO DOMINGO.- The Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas group (IDEA Group) participates as an observer in the municipal elections of Dominican Republic. The delegation of former presidents belonging to the organization toured the voting centers.
Through social networks, the former president of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana, showed an image of the visit.
Dominicans went out to vote this February 18 to choose their municipal authorities in an election that will serve as a political thermometer for the presidential elections in May, in which President Luis Abinader seeks re-election.
The voting took place calmly, despite the fact that the day before there were incidents with gunshot wounds and the ruling party denounced the “murder” of one of its local leaders in the south of the country.
Abinader’s Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) reported that Daniel Pérez was murdered at midnight on Saturday in front of the house of the district mayor of Los Jovillos, in the town of Azua (south).
The circumstances of his death are unclear and are being investigated by police, according to local press.
In Fantino (center) three people from the PRM were shot on Saturday after an argument with a group. The Police reported that they are investigating the incident and announced two arrests.
Abinader described this shooting as an “isolated” case and made “an energetic call for peace” after voting in the elections on Sunday.
“Today’s success (…) is the consolidation of democracy,” he said when calling to vote.
“Incidence” in presidential elections in the Dominican Republic
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) enabled 16,851 polling stations in 4,295 precincts. Some 14 international missions, including one from the Organization of American States (OAS) chaired by former Paraguayan Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga, are observing the process.
Experts maintain that the results of this election will have an “incidence” in the presidential elections.
The elections will allow the parties to measure the support they have, based on “who gets the most national votes” and also “who gets the most mayors and district directors,” explained political scientist Belarminio Ramírez.
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Courtesy: IDEA Group.
“If the opposition gets more national votes, the social perception that Luis Abinader and the PRM will be defeated in the second electoral round is consolidated and gains strength,” he added.
The PRM fights to preserve the country’s main square, the capital Santo Domingo.
He is also fighting for five of the seven municipalities that make up the province of Santo Domingo, including that of Santo Domingo Este, the most populated municipality in the country.
The PRM assures that it will achieve between 70% and 80% of the mayoralties, a fact dismissed by the opposition represented in the Alianza Rescate RD, which supports Abinader’s main rival in the presidential elections, former president Leonel Fernández.
“My personal opinion is that there should be a change of councilors,” said citizen Ramón Santana about the municipal councils. But he is not so sure about what he expects from the presidential elections: “We have to analyze it in the remaining time. They are separate things,” he stated.
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Courtesy: IDEA Group
Source: EDITORIAL/AFP
