The continuing saga of the electoral rolls and the existence of duplicate and triplicate voter registration cards continue to garner press attention. According to Panky Cordero of El Caribe newspaper, the JCE is looking for an integrated solution to the problems that have been detected. According to Judge Rafael Diaz Vasquez of the JCE’s administrative chamber, some of the problems are as much as five years old. The agenda for today’s full board meeting will address the problem. While the PLD party has insisted on a full voter registration audit, the door is being left open for a review of all non-voters in the last elections. The Listin Diario reports that the political parties’ technical staffs and technicians from the JCE agreed to rescind voting privileges for more than 25,000 voters with multiple registrations. As of October 2003, there had been 16,632 such cases detected and, since then, there have been more than 10,000 names added to that list.
Most Dominicans believe fraud will be attempted in the upcoming election. As per the February Gallup poll, of the eligible Dominican voters surveyed 65% think the stage is being set for fraud in the upcoming Presidential election, while 25.8% disagree. Those most concerned about clean elections are the followers of former President Leonel Fernandez, the man to beat, according to the poll. Of the PLD supporters, 73.6% believe there will be fraud, an opinion shared by 66.5% of PRSC supporters and 29.1% of those behind Mejia of the PRD. Furthermore, 53.8% of citizens polled do not believe the Central Electoral Board (JCE) is capable of organizing a fair election without major problems and 60.6% felt the JCE had ruled incorrectly on matters related to the PRD’s participation in the election. The JCE has been accused of being overtly partisan to the faction within the PRD that supports the re-election of President Hipolito Mejia.
Those who believe the military is involved in partisan political activities and could affect the upcoming election numbered 47.3%