The president of the Central Electoral Board, Julio César Castaños Guzmán said on Wednesday, 7 November 2018, that the preferential vote at the municipal level should be eliminated for the elections of 2020 or at least postponed for 2024. The official said that it is an administrative challenge to organize elections with a preferential vote at the municipal level, but not in the congressional sphere. The preferential vote inclusion had been approved in 2013. Castaños Guzmán said he has had conversations with legislators on the matter.
Spokesmen for the PRM, the largest opposition political party, and the PRSC are against the postponement. An editorial in Diario Libre agreed with the postponement arguing that the government already had enough on its hands with the implementation of the new Political Parties Bill.
Castaños spoke when participating in the opening of the XIII Inter-American Meeting of Electoral Authorities in Santo Domingo. The event was presided by Vice President Margarita Cedeño, in her role as Acting President. The meeting is taking place 7-9 November. Representatives of 29 electoral bodies in 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting in Santo Domingo to discuss the challenges in their electoral systems and their role in the elections.
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Listín Diario
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
8 November 2018
