The nonpartisan civic movement Participación Ciudadana (PC) has proposed taking advantage of the proposed constitutional reform to withdraw the Dominican Republic from the Central American Parliament (Parlacen). The organization argues that the political forum is ineffective, operates on a patronage system, and fosters impunity.
“Parlacen [which is untouched in the proposed amendment by President Abinader] should be eliminated. It’s a waste of money, we haven’t seen any results, and other countries, like Panama, are already leaving. It’s a clientelist issue, it’s to generate impunity. What is the procedure? What have we seen with Parlacen? Nothing. So, let’s take advantage of this reform to withdraw the Dominican Republic from Parlacen,” stated Leidy Blanco García, coordinator of PC’s Political Analysis Unit, as reported in Hoy.
Similarly, the civic movement expressed its opposition to unifying presidential, congressional, international parliamentary, and municipal elections, arguing that it would present greater challenges, particularly in counting votes, ensuring higher levels of representation, and obtaining immediate results.
“We have objections to unifying the elections… Unifying the elections, in terms of electoral logistics, would mean seven levels of election in a single electoral process, in a manual system. That is, we don’t have electronic voting, electronic scrutiny, there’s nothing, everything is manual with seven levels of elections: congressional, municipal, presidential levels. Remember, that’s seven levels with three preferential votes. Counting that is complex. We’ve gotten used to having immediate results,” said Blanco García.
Blanco García also expressed concerns about local leadership, stating that even though the Law of Parties, Groups, and Political Movements no longer establishes a drag effect, “in a unification of elections, there is always an invisible drag that occurs when in power, and that weakens municipal leadership.”
The PC coordinator suggested that holding elections for mayors, councilors, and their alternates separate by two years from the congressional and presidential election, as established in the 1960 constitutional reform, would be more convenient, with modifications to the electoral law.
These statements were made during an interview on the television program “El Día” on Telesistema 11.
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12 August 2024