2020News

Municipal elections: The good news is that there is no news

For the most part, reports are that the Extraordinary Municipal Election was practically eventless. As of 5 pm on Sunday, 15 March 2020, expectations that there would be a large turnout of voters was not happening, Alicia Ortega for Noticias SIN reported.

Abstention of around 50% is considered normal, despite expectations of a larger than usual turnout of young people. By the early afternoon, only a trickle of voters kept the polling stations officers busy at most centers. Abstention is expected to be more than 65-70% this time around.

This year, voters for the first time were casting votes for the city councilors of their choice. In the past, the city councilor was decided depending on the number of votes cast for a city mayor. The city councilors were listed in the order decided by the political party.

The municipal election is happening on the heels of the country being in the containment phase of the Covid-19 virus. But the representative of the Pan American Health Organization, Alma Morales, called on Dominicans to go out and vote, leaving the polling places to avoid conglomerations afterwards. Gel with alcohol was available for voters to wash up before and after the vote.

Reports are that most people had voted by 3 pm, though, with a trickle of voters after that hour. The polls closed as scheduled at 5 pm.

The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Julio Castaños Espaillat, announced that the 16,032 polling stations had operated successfully nationwide. “We announce that from an organizational point of view, the election was a success,” he said. “The JCE has complied with its mission and the event has been reinstated. Democracy has been salvaged. The Dominican people have elected their municipal authorities,” he told Dominicans at the close of the polls at 5 pm.

He summed up: “Reports are that all is normal. There has not been an incident that could affect the results. All has gone in order and peacefully. The Dominican people have chosen.”

16 March 2020