It seems politics is calling the shots in the Dominican Republic. The abundance of public funds available for political campaigning is apparent in the early start of the political campaigns. The municipal elections in the DR are scheduled for 18 February 2024, the presidential and congressional elections for 19 May 2024.
The pre-campaign period does not officially start until 2 July 2023. Nevertheless, aspirants to party candidacies for city governments are positioning themselves with the voters. Some political parties have said they will use polls to choose their candidates.
Meanwhile, pre-candidates have gotten off to an early start and irregularly filled the city with billboards. Diario Libre reports on the high cost of these that range from RD$65,000 to RD$150,000 a month.
The billboards advertise known politicians, such as former President Leonel Fernandez and the president of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Pacheco, and little known politicians, such as deputy Anibal Diaz and politicians that became famous for irregularities in government, such as Neney Cabrera who wants to be the ruling PRM party’s candidate for mayor for the capital city, Santo Domingo.
Over the weekend, Diario Libre focused on Luis Alberto Tejeda Pimentel, candidate for mayor for Santo Domingo East for the Dominican Liberation Party and who is a major betting shop businessman. Diario Libre reported that almost 40,000 betting shops are listed as unregulated with the National Lottery and, among them, more than 2,000 belong to Inversiones Pradera Azul, a company whose corporate records are in the name of Tejeda Pimentel. Diario Libre explains that Tejeda Pimentel betting shops operate under the brand name of Loteka, a company which in only one of the lists of the National Lottery registry appears as concessionaire of 16,779 lottery seats and, of these, a total of 8,267 are not regulated, according to the state entity.
Diario Libre reported that at least eight deputies are on the list of operators of betting shops that are irregularly in business.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
DR1 News
19 June 2023