Central Electoral Board (JCE) member Jose Angel Aquino will propose the reopening of the overseas offices in major cities in the United States and Europe. He said that many Dominicans living overseas were in the process of legalizing their immigration status and the JCE could not leave them helpless. Aquino said he would present his proposal at a meeting at the JCE today, Thursday 21 February.
The JCE announced in December that it would close its offices in New York, Miami, Boston, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Montreal, Panama, Philadelphia, Venezuela, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Valencia, The Netherlands, Zurich, Geneva, Virgin Isles, Saint Martin, Aruba and Atlanta, to cut costs and with the dismissal of 60 employees.
The JCE had asked the government for a budget of RD$4.5 billion for next year but had only been given RD$2.55 billion, plus RD$800 million to be distributed to the authorized political parties.
However, Aquino thinks that if the JCE reduces personnel and some services in these areas, then some offices could stay open in the cities with the largest Dominican populations.
The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) has ordered the JCE to submit the resolution to close the offices and is hearing the cases against closure, brought by the Corporation of Political Parties in Latin America (Copola) and the subsidiary of the New Jersey Lawyers College in the Dominican Republic (CARD).
www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2013/2/20/151512/Proyectan-reabrir-locales-de-la-JCE