Over 175 deputies, 32 senators and 151 mayors will be elected in May 2006, and there will be 960 municipal council members elected, as well. Nelson Gomez, the magistrate who heads the Central Electoral Board’ Administrative Court, told reporters from Hoy that voters should check to see that they are duly registered in their respective districts and that new voters should get their voter registration cards (“cedulas”) by 16 December. Gomez emphasized that the new electronic and physical controls will impede any attempts at fraudulent voting. The JCE is spending RD$38 million on new materials for printing and preparing the needed “cedulas”. The Administrative Court of the JCE has also spent US$300,000 on new computers and CDs to strengthen the Civil Registry’s efforts. Also as part of the work being carried out by his division of the JCE, Gomez said that a total of 42 local election boards were restructured and 17 new ones established. In an effort to avoid false birth certificates, the magistrate revealed that his teams are now establishing a new system that will require an infant’s footprint and the fingerprints for any child 14 or older, as in the United States.
As part of the scope of the forthcoming elections, El Caribe reports that over 1000 people are vying for seats on the Santo Domingo municipal council and other municipalities in the National District. To make things difficult for those wishing to enter the fray, the newspaper reports that 90% of those currently holding office are going to try for re-election. There are only 121 council seats available in the National District. In what the paper calls the “frenzy” for a seat in Congress, the PLD has over 4,000 aspiring candidates and the PRD has 2,800 potential public servants.