The Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) announced it will choose its presidential and vice presidential candidates using another method and will not continue with its initial plan to carry out open primaries on 6 October 2019. The announcement was made after a party meeting was held at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel with the participation of 88.3% of the members of the Political Commission of the PRD.
The party appointed Women Minister Janet Camilo to preside over a commission to choose the method. The same commission will work with the party’s national secretariat for electoral matters to decide on the method to choose candidates at the municipal and legislative levels and present to the Political Commission of the party.
While in the past primaries were mandatory for all political parties, the newly passed Political Parties Law 33-18 allows for multiple methods for choosing political candidates. The Central Electoral Board (JCE) recently announced it would pick up 60% of the cost of the primaries. The JCE is also taking a lead in the organization of the simultaneous primaries on 6 October 2019.
The PRD has been a strong ally to the Medina administration since its legislators gave the PLD the needed votes to change the 2010 Constitution that banned President Medina from running for reelection in the 2016 presidential election. The president of the party is Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado.
The PRD alliance also saved the party’s status as a majority party, and a share of 80% of the taxpayer fund that by law is allotted to political parties, together with the PLD, PRM and PRSC. The party thus survived after key party members split to form the PRM.
All parties need to have registered their candidates with the JCE by 7 July 2019.
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Z101
1 April 2019