The Junta Central Electoral, the Dominican election board, announced the closing of the voting registration period. 200,000 persons did not register to vote. The JCE still has to deliver nearly 1 million cards to citizens that have requested these. Persons that renew their cards from now on will be given a renovation slip, but will not be able to vote in the 16 May 2000 presidential election. The JCE would have considered an extension of the voting registration period, but president of the JCE, Dr. Ramón Morel Cerda said that the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano opposed this. Morel Cerda said that as of Friday, the JCE had handled 4,343,940 voting registration requests. The voting registration closed on Monday, 31 January, at midnight as planned. Morel Cerda said that they have delivered 3.3 million cedulas (voting registration/identification card), and 300,000 are just waiting to be picked up at the JCE. Another 250,000 are under investigation and 50,000 citizens need to reprocess their applications.
