The president of the JCE announced that an advertising campaign will begin on 1 February to instruct voters about the new system for the election. The campaign will explain the new second round of voting in the event where no single candidate wins 50% + 1 of the votes cast in the first round, the closed electoral colleges and, in addition, encourage the people to exercise their franchise. Two advertising agencies have won the contracts for the campaign.
In his usual Wednesday press conference, the president of the Junta Central Electoral, Dr. César Estrella Sadhalá, said that already 50% of the personnel that will work at the electoral tables or colleges have been selected. He said that the training of the 55,000 people that will work at the more than 11,500 voting stations throughout the country will begin shortly.
Dr. Estrella urged all citizens to collect their voting and identification cards (cédulas) before the final date of 28 February. Only those that possess them will be able to vote. He said that citizens who do not collect their cards before the cut-off date will have to wait until after the election on 16 May. The cards are regarded as the official identification document in the Dominican Republic. As of 29 February 1996, the old cedula will not be valid. For more information, call 473-6665 in Santo Domingo and (toll free) 1-200-3065 from the interior of the country.