The Dominican Public Teachers Association (ADP) held nationwide elections on Wednesday, 10 October 2018. The newly elected president of the association is Xiomara Guante.
Guante, a mother of three, represented public teachers affiliated to the PRM (Partido Revolucionario Moderno), the country’s main opposition party. She is a graduate of the state UASD university in Education, with a specialty in applied linguistics, and a masters in social sciences research. At the time of her election, she was employed as a teacher at the Escuela Pública Otilia Peláez, in Santo Domingo North municipality.
Guante defeated ruling PLD party candidate, Eduardo Hidalgo, who sought reelection.
Prior to her election, Guante was not well known outside of the public school teachers circle.
Some political analysts are using the results of the nationwide ADP election to make forecasts for the upcoming 2020 general election, especially since the Dominican Republic does not have midterm elections for municipal and congressional office. The observers see the Public School Teachers Association polling, which incorporates every public school teacher in the entire Dominican Republic among its rank and file, as somewhat of a “midterm” election.
However, president-elect professor Guante says that she will not take the PRM flag into her office. She highlighted her goal is to raise the quality of public education. Guante said that her ample victory is firmly rooted in the institution and belongs to the ADP members, to education and to democracy. She highlighted she would also work to improve living conditions and working conditions for Dominican teachers.
According to the second bulletin released by the Voting Commission of the ADP, Guante held a 15% margin over her closest competitor.
Of course, some leading PLD officials were quick to point out that the PRM victory in these elections of the Dominican Teaches Association are not really a defeat for the government. Alejandrina German, who heads the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and who is also a member of the high-ranking Political Committee of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), told reporters from the Diario Libre that the victory by Xiomara Guante in the ADP elections was not a harbinger for the defeat of the PLD in 2020. She said: “I don’t think that this (the ADP election) has anything to do as a test of strength, because the PLD continues to be the strongest party in the Dominican Republic.” She explained that members of the ADP frown upon having leaders connected to the government (PLD) in leadership positions. German says it is better that the leadership belong to the opposition.”
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
15 October 2018
