The National Electoral Committee of the Bar Association of the Dominican Republic (CARD) declared on 5 December 2023 that Trajano Vidal Potentini won the electoral process held on Saturday, 2 December 2023. Vidal Potentini will be the new president of the lawyer guild, replacing Miguel Surun Hernandez.
Vidal Potentini obtained 11,473 votes, or 48.77% of the votes. Johan López was in second place with 10,817 votes, for 45.96%.
Pedro Rodríguez Montero obtained 931 votes and Osiris Díaz Ynoa 302 votes.
Ydelfonso Brito, president of the electoral committee for the guild, said that 78,395 lawyers were eligible to vote in the process, of which 24,109 exercised their vote. Of these, 23,523 votes were determined valid, 551 were invalid and 35 were observed.
López has contested the vote, saying that he received 11,224 votes compared to 8,259 for Potentini, and says he will take the case to the courts. He insisted that the last minute alliance between Potentini and other candidates was illegal because it was approved outside the deadline established by the statutes.
Sociologist Cándido Mercedes considers that the conflict in the CARD results from the control political parties have over professional unions. He warned that most professionals do not identify with their guilds.
Potentini had the backing of former President Leonel Fernandez (Fuerza del Pueblo) and Lopez of the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM).
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El Dia
6 December 2023