The secretary general of the Dominican Municipal League (LMD), Johnny Jones and the presidents of several municipal associations held a press conference on 8 July 2019 to announce that they would back a single date for elections in 2020 in “an eventual amendment of the 2015 Constitution.”
For the 2020 general election, the municipal election is scheduled to be separate from the presidential election. The municipal election is scheduled for 16 February 2020, while the presidential and congressional election is set for 17 May of the same year.
Speaking at the press conference, LMD secretary general Johnny Jones said the municipal organizations have already sent the motion to merge the election dates to the president of the Senate, Reinaldo Pared Perez; the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Radhamés Camacho; the president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) and the president of the Superior Electoral Court Roman Jaquez.
“It is our main interest to request from you that in an eventual revision of the Constitution, there is the urgent need to review the provisions contained in Articles 209 and 274 of the Constitution, with the wise purpose of unifying the election processes foreseen for 2020, maintaining the different levels of election,” Jones said the municipal organizations had communicated to the top-ranking officers of the Legislative Branch and the electoral authorities.
The motion also argues: “February is the month of our nationality, of our main regional festivities, of carnival and its impact on the tourism sector, as well as the patriotic value of our celebrations. No doubt that an electoral process on such dates would be affected and significantly affect such ancestral celebrations.”
Political analyst Altagracia Salazar speculates that a negative outcome in the municipal election could affect aspirations of presidential and legislative candidates in the May 2020 election. Most of the standing PLD government officers seek to be reelected in the 2020 general election.
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Diario Libre
9 July 2019