The Constitutional Court (TC) has given the Central Electoral Board (JCE) until 8 December 2019 to determine the validity of presidential candidacies. The JCE has stated the deadline for registering the presidential nominations is 3 March 2020 for the 17 May 2020 election. Nevertheless, the Electoral Law establishes that the JCE needs to accept or reject candidacies, five days after they have been presented. The TC sent a letter on 8 November 2019 regarding the 8 December date that would seem to extend the five-day decision period for the JCE.
The TC wants to hear the opinion of the JCE before issuing its own judgment to recourses that have been submitted to that court on the validity of candidacies according to the Political Parties Law 33-18, the Electoral Regime Law 15-19 and the 2015 Dominican Constitution.
The country now awaits the verdict from the JCE on whether former President Leonel Fernández can run for President for another political party. How the JCE and eventually the TC rule on this case will affect the situation of several other candidacies at the municipal and congressional level. The case could reach the TC because defenders of the nomination of Fernández say he has the constitutional right to be run for office.
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El Dia
Listin Diario
18 November 2019