Voter abstention for the 5 July 2020 presidential election was the highest since 1961, when the country was just coming out of a 30-year Trujillo dictatorship. The next highest had been in 1990, when the late President Balaguer ran for a fifth term in office (after 1966). Voters abstention then was 40%. The winner of the 2020 election ousted the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), in power since 2004.
The first reports on the election indicated there was a large turnout. Probably the determined mood of people on voting day gave that impression. The actual numbers, nevertheless, indicate the abstention was 44.7%.
With 100% of the presidential vote counted, the numbers show that 4,163,275 people voted, or the 44.7%. 7,529,932 were registered to vote.
The final numbers are:
Luis Abinader (Modern Revolutionary Party – PRM): 2,154,828 votes, 52.52%
Gonzalo Castillo (Dominican Liberation Party – PLD): 1,536,989 votes, 37.46%
Leonel Fernández (People’s Force – FP): 365,212 votes, 8.90%
Guillermo Moreno (Country Alliance – AlPais): 39,457 votes, 0.96%
Ismael Reyes (Institutional Democratic Party – PDI): 3,481 votes, 0.08%
Juan Cohen (Civilian Veterans Party – PNVC): 3,246 votes, 0.08%
Invalid votes: 60,062 votes
The offset, nevertheless, was complete. The ruling PLD party lost its majority in the Senate. The vote count in the Chamber of Deputies is ongoing, but there are expectations the opposition party, the PRM may also take the majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
The high abstention is attributed to the situation caused by Covid-19 and the reticence of thousands of elderly voters to queue up for the vote. The vote was also affected by the collapse of the vote abroad, primarily due to the Central Electoral Board’s negligence in organizing this vote. Some countries did ban the vote from taking place due to conditions created by the coronavirus.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) says that it will proclaim Luis Abinader and Raquel Peña as President-elect and Vice President-elect on 15 July. This is the shortest transition period in modern Dominican history. Abinader and Peña will be sworn in on 16 August. They will replace President Danilo Medina and Vice President Margarita Cedeño who has been in office since 2012. In the case of Cedeño, previously she had been a two-time First Lady during the governments of former President Leonel Fernández (2004-2008, and 2008-2012).
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9 July 2020