The bilateral legislative committee that is studying the Electoral Regime Bill announced agreements on five key points that have been under discussion for a very long time. In the presence of 21 legislators, the committee accepted the creation of a special prosecutor who would investigate electoral crimes and be responsible to the Justice Department. The chairman of the committee, Aristides Victoria Yeb, explained that the double vote in municipal elections whereby a vote for Municipal District officials also counted as votes for the mayoral candidate in the Municipality. At the same time, the preferential vote was maintained for congressional and municipal elections, for city council members. But coat tailing (D’Hondt method) will still mean that when voting for a deputy of a specific party, the votes will count for the vote of the senator of the same party in the 2020 general election. The method enables that a candidate who obtained less senatorial votes nevertheless win the senate seat.
Caps were placed on campaign funding, the same as carried in the Law on Political Parties, of RD$0.75 for each person which translates into RD$122.50 for the presidential election. As reported, Congress has but this week to approve the bill.
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El Dia
El Dia
11 February 2019
