Around one million Dominicans abroad are expected to register to vote in the 19 May 2024 presidential and congressional elections. This means that the expat vote will be only second in numbers to that of Greater Santo Domingo.
Expect politicians to be actively campaigning abroad, especially in areas that concentrate the most Dominicans — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Boston in the United States.
A study by the Institute of Dominicans Abroad (Index) reveals that as of December 2022, 2,835,593 people of Dominican origin live abroad — 2,393,718 in the United States and 188,308 in Spain.
El Dia reports that presidential and congressional candidates seek to win the votes in these two countries. This means motivating the second generation to vote.
The vote abroad is divided into three constituencies. The largest is in North America, with around 700,000 voters in Montreal and Toronto, in Canada; and in the United States in New York, Boston, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Washington DC.
The second constituency is made up of Curacao, Miami, Panama, San Juan de Puerto Rico, San Martín and Caracas, Venezuela.
The third is that of the European cities of Madrid and Barcelona, in Spain, Amsterdam in Holland, Milan in Italy, and Zurich in Switzerland.
These three constituencies have seven representatives of Dominicans from abroad in the Chamber of Deputies, divided into three for the first, two in the second and two in the third.
“The Dominican vote abroad is conscious and more rational. Here [abroad] you don’t vote for a chicken meal or to get 500 or 2,000 pesos. What the Dominican is looking for here is a way to identify the potential candidates who can help Dominicans develop and set out on the path of progress,” leader Gregorio Morrobel told El Dia.
He explains that Dominicans abroad follow what is happening in the country, especially because a crisis in the Dominican Republic affects their pockets because they then have to send more money to their relatives.
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El Dia
26 September 2023