Constitutional Court Milton Ray Guevara had complained on Monday, 12 August 2019 about the leak late last week on the elimination of the allocating of deputy votes to senators. Ray Guevara said the information was not official until published by the secretary of the court.
But on the same Monday, the Constitutional Court finalized the procedure, and the secretary of the court confirmed the stories that circulated in the media over the weekend.
The measure that will enable voters in all provinces and the National District to vote for the congressional candidate of their choice has met with widespread praise. All political parties, minus the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) have expressed their support to the measure.
Late last week, it was leaked that the Constitutional Court had approved the elimination of the carry-over vote. The court had accepted an appeal filed against the provisions of Law 157-13 on the preferential vote. The judges of the high court had eliminated a paragraph that establishes that “when the voter decides to mark the photograph of the candidate or candidate for deputy of his preference is favoring with his vote the party of this and therefore the candidate for senator of that party.”
When asked, the president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) Julio César Castaños Guzmán said that the elimination of the carry-over vote would not affect the organization of the 2020 election. There is no additional cost because the 2020 vote is automated, he said.
The JCE in May 2019 had ruled that votes cast for deputies would be carried over to the senator of the same political party only in five provinces (Santo Domingo, La Vega, Puerto Plata, San Cristóbal and Santiago) and the National District. This is where most of the population of the country is located.
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Tribunal Constitucional
13 August 2019