In recent years, many legislators have been signaled out for ties with drug trafficking and organized crime operations. Many legislators own betting shops chains, or public transport entities known for vandalism, or they have been in the media for corruption in government. There is a push for political parties to purge their candidates for legislators running in the May 2024 congressional election.
Now, the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) that has the most legislators that have been involved in scandals, particularly for drug trafficking, is passing the buck for purging to other institutions.
On 20 July 2023, the PRM held a press conference to announce that it is sending its list of pre-candidates to the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), the Attorney General Office (PGR), the Foundation for Justice and Institutionalism (Finjus), Citizen Participation (PC), the Ombudsman Office and the US Embassy so these can purge the pre-candidacies.
Participacion Ciudadana, the civic watchdog entity, is critical of the decision to involve others in the purge. PC says that the political parties are responsible for filtering their own people.
“It cannot be that the parties do not know about who is who,” said Jeny Blanco, former general coordinator of Citizen Participation.
Several months ago, the legislator for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Ana María Peña, had remarked the time has come for the country’s political parties to establish the profiles of the people responsible for representing the citizens. “They must be people who are removed from the vices. I think that yes, politics has to be cleaned up, it has to create profiles of people who represent the country with dignity in each one of the elective posts,” she said.
Yudelka de la Rosa, deputy for the Fuerza del Pueblo, said that the political organizations should also assume their role in the selection of candidates.
The ruling party (PRM) says that the list of pre-candidates does not imply the acceptance3 of the pre-candidatures until the assessment and vetting process is completed.
Public Works Minister Deligne Ascencion, who is also the president of the PRM’s National Internal Elections Committee (CNEI) said that the list of pre-candidates is being uploaded to the party’s website so any citizen can comment and make suggestions to cnei@prm.org.do
The administrative minister of the presidency and also president of the PRM, Jose Ignacio Paliza said that the opposition parties who criticize the decision of sending the lists to the DNCD, the PGR and civic society entities and the US Embassy to do so the same with their candidates.
By November of 2023 candidates for the municipal, congressional and presidential levels need to have been chosen for the February (municipal) and May (presidential and congressional) elections.
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Somos Pueblo
24 July 2023