The Central Electoral Board (JCE) issued on 20 May 2024 the final numbers for the Presidential election in the Dominican Republic that took place on Sunday, 19 May. The JCE had issued a first preliminary bulletin shortly before 8:30pm on Sunday, as promised.
President Luis Abinader won with the vote of 2,499,774 Dominicans, or 57.46% of the vote. Next was former three-term President Leonel Fernandez with 1,254,761 voters or 28.84%. Former Santiago mayor Abel Martinez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was third with 451,955 voters, or 10.39%.
The other presidential candidates did not reach majority party status and are:
Roque Espaillat (El Cobrador) with 59,067 voters (1.36%)
Carlos Peña with 31,452 voters or 0.72%
Virginia Antares Rodriguez of Opción Democratica with 25,088 voters or 0.58%
Miguel Vargas of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) with 19,654 votes or 0.45%
Maria Teresa Cabrera with 6,216 voters or 0.14%
Fulgencio Severino with 2,721 voters or 0.06%.
El Caribe in its analysis on the win says that circumstances now make President Luis Abinader the most dominant statesman of all times in the Dominican Republic with the possibility to “control” the different branches of government through actions to name the members of these.
El Caribe points out that already in the present Congress the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) has a simple majority that as of 16 August 2024 will increase to one of absolute majority with 29 of 32 seats in the Senate.
The National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) that elects members of the superior courts in the Dominican Republic, during the Presidency of Luis Abinader has chosen nine of the current judges of the Constitutional Court, including its president, Napoleón Estévez.
In 2027, the CNM is scheduled to vote on four new judges to serve the nine-year period for which they will be chosen. In 2026, the CNM will review the performances of 12 judges in the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), including its president, Luis Henry Molina. Molina is regarded as a professional, but he reached the position as a major campaign activist for then President Danilo Medina.
In the SCJ, the vacancy left by the resignation of the current president of the TC is pending to be filled.
The CNM is also scheduled to elect new judges to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in 2025.
The PRM-majority Senate is scheduled to elect the members of the the Chamber of Accounts that audits government in 2025. Likewise, the Senate will choose the members of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) in November 2025. The election of the Ombudsman, whose term expires in 2027, is also set to happen during the upcoming Abinader administration.
Read more in Spanish:
JCE
El Caribe
21 May 2024