The announcement that the political parties will receive RD$1,506 million in subsidies from the government in 2019 confirms that politics is highly profitable. 80% of the disbursements are targeted to the so-named four majority parties, that is those that received at least 5% of the vote in the 2016 general election. The assignment in 2016 was RD$805 million.
The big beneficiaries are the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) and the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD).
The JCE has been allotted RD$6,997 million in the 2019 National Budget. Politicians passed a bill in 1997 that establishes that half a percent of the National Budget be allotted to political activities.
The announced 2019 National Budget will be for RD$921,810 million of which RD$765,455 million is allotted to government spending, subject to congressional approval. Government spending in general is up 12% for the 2019 budget. The ruling PLD party is majority in Congress.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
8 October 2018
