In the Dominican Republic politicians have it easy. Congress legislated years ago obliging taxpayers to pick up the tab for most political activities.
Electoral Law 20/23 establishes that political parties receive double the resources that are assigned to them in non-electoral years. In this election year, 2024, the political parties will be getting RD$2.5 billion in revenues.
Electoral Regime Law 33-18 establishes that 80% of the total allotment to political parties should be distributed equally among the political parties that received more than 5% of valid votes in the 2020 general election. This 2024, the JCE will distribute RD$2.016 billion, or RD$504,160,000 each to the four parties receiving the most votes in the 2020 general elections. The parties meeting this criterion were the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), People’s Force (FP), and Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD).
The electoral law establishes that political parties that reached less than 5% but more than 1% will receive 12% of the total amount, some RD$302 million. Some seven parties obtained a vote in that range, each receiving RD$43 million. These organizations are the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), Alianza País, Dominicans for Change, Social Democratic Institutional Bloc (BIS), Dominican Humanist Party (PHD) and the Civic Renewal Party (PCR).
The parties that benefit from the taxpayer contribution are those that participated in the last election. Therefore, newly recognized do not enter the list of beneficiaries of these resources.
Article 61 of Law 33/18 on Political Parties establishes the distribution mechanism for these resources.
The JCE determined that 40% of the total amount will be delivered in the first four months of this year in 4 equal installments and 60% distributed in 12 installments until the end of 2024.
Article 224 of Law 20/23 of the Electoral Regime establishes the allocation of economic resources from the State to political parties. “An amount equivalent to half a percent (1/2%) of national income will be allocated in the National Budget in the years of general elections and a quarter percent (1/4%) in the years when there are no elections.”
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El Caribe
Diario Libre
25 January 2024