Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, said that he has learned from trustworthy sources that the U.S. Embassy is seeking to assume a role in the forthcoming election that does not correspond with the accepted function of a diplomatic delegation. The head of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic said that the U.S. Embassy has had contact with other diplomatic legations, who are members of the international organizations funding the so-called Red de Observadores Electorales, seeking certain commitments.
This network of electoral observers, he said, will not limit itself to the simple function of observing a foreign election, but will trespass on those limits by divulging, in an untimely manner, information on the development and results of the election before the JCE makes its official pronouncement on the outcome. He condemned the fact that according to his information, the Red de Observadores Electorales will seek to create a difficult situation for the JCE and undermine the credibility of the verdict given by the “only competent authority” on the results of the election.
He called for Dominicans to be on the alert and observe both the behavior of the U.S. Embassy in the next few months, and the conduct of those people that it endorses as observers. He said it is up to the JCE to clearly state the limitations of the electoral observers to avoid what he called the tragic-comedy of the last election in 1994.