Last week the Central Electoral Board (JCE) issued Resolution 12-2018 ordering political partisan campaigning to stop. There are 21 registered political parties. But, so far, the resolution seems to address the premature activity by pre-candidates for the presidential nomination of the ruling PLD party, as these have revved up their campaigning two years before the legal time for electoral campaigning is due in 2020. Meanwhile, a political parties bill that would impose checks and controls on campaigns languishes in Congress, given the impasse between those who back President Danilo Medina and legislators in favor of former President Leonel Fernandez.
A report in El Caribe says that right now the authority of the JCE is being questioned. So far, the politicians have ignored the order to cease campaigning. The president of Alianza País, Guillermo Moreno had requested that the JCE issue an electoral campaign ruling that would cover campaigning time, spending issues and access to the media.
El Caribe reports that the legality and applicability of JCE Resolution 12-2018 has been questioned by former President Leonel Fernández, lawyers Emmanuel Esquea Guerrero, Vinicio (Vinicito) Castillo, Namphi Rodríguez and by the former president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) Roberto Rosario. They agree that the JCE went too far in issuing a measure that has no legal basis and violates fundamental rights. They also question the that the JCE ordered the Ministry of Interior and Police, city governments and provincial governments to implement the order.
However, lawyers Cristóbal Rodríguez and Carlos Salcedo, former President Hipólito Mejía, former president of the JCE Ramon Manuel Morel Cerda, and members of the JCE José Ángel Aquino and Eddy Olivares, entities such as the Institutionality and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Justice and Transparency and Citizen Participation have defended the legality of the measure and given its support, says the El Caribe report.
Furthermore, it points out that it is not the first time that the JCE tries to control the electoral campaign through regulations, but that this has not been successful either in the past due to the absence of a legal framework.
Read more in Spanish:
Autoridad de JCE podría quedar cuestionada para elecciones 2020
28 June 2018
