The Superior Administrative Court (TSA) ordered the Central Electoral Board (JCE) to upgrade the People’s Force (Fuerza del Pueblo – FP) to majority party status. Now the political party founded by former President Leonel Fernandez in 2020 will receive a cut of the 80% of the taxpayer fund allotted to majority political parties. The FP will now join the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) and the former majority party, the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD).
The TSA is the government entity that rules on the correct application of government entity actions.
Former President Leonel Fernandez celebrated on his Twitter account saying the decision consolidates democracy and strengthens the political party system.
Article 61 of Law 33-18 on Political Parties, Movements and Groupings in its paragraph one establishes that 80% will be distributed in equal parts among the parties that have reached more than 5% of the valid votes cast in the last election.
The FP was founded when former President Leonel Fernández alleged fraud in the primaries of the Dominican Liberation Party. Fernández had been winning in the automated count until suddenly the vote count trend completely changed against him. When the PLD group led by then President Danilo Medina chose Gonzalo Castillo to be the PLD presidential candidate, Fernández announced he was leaving to found the People’s Force and seek the presidency anyway. At the time, Fernández was the president of the then ruling PLD.
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Listin Diario
El Nuevo Diario
2 July 2021