The Organization of American States’ (OAS) Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), led by former President of the Republic of Chile Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, recently issued its preliminary report on the Extraordinary Municipal Election of Sunday, 15 March 2020. The report congratulates the Dominican people “for their perseverance and commitment to democracy demonstrated in Sunday’s extraordinary municipal elections in the Dominican Republic.”
The mission also had praise for the authorities and electoral officials that after the crash of the e-voting machines purchased for the municipal election on 16 February had to carry out the rescheduled election in a month’s time. The report has words of praise for the political parties for their call for peace, dialogue and the exercise of the right to vote, in the midst of a climate of high political and social tension. The OAS mission recognizes the role of various civil society organizations that represented a barometer of the dynamism of Dominican democracy.
The OAS Electoral Observation Mission issued several recommendations for implementation in time for the 17 May presidential and congressional election. The OAS says that the recommendations are made after it was able to corroborate the lack of adequate protocols for tests, quality control, verification and audits to ascertain the operation of the technology used for the election.
The OAS recommends the JCE carry out a simulacrum 15 days before the 17 May presidential and congressional election to test that all works well.
Read more in Spanish:
OAS Report
OAS
Diario Libre
18 March 2020