The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has decided to change the order of the political parties in the electoral ballot and the economic distribution made by the state to the different groups.
With this change, the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) moves up to take third place, in the place of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD).
The ballot is headed by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in first place; the Revolutionary Modern Party (PRM) in second place, the PRSC in third; the PRD in fourth place; the Institutional Social Democratic Block (BIS) in fifth place and the Alternative Democratic Movement (MODA) in sixth place.
The current JCE reversed the decision taken by the last JCE administration on 8 May 2016 when a week before the 2016 general election it was determined that the votes at the presidential level would be the deciding factor for the order of the parties, instead of the order of the parties being determined by the sum of the votes at the three government election levels (municipal, congressional and presidential), as had occurred in the past.
The PRD allied with the ruling PLD in the 2016 general election and named President Danilo Medina as the party’s presidential candidate.
Last year, an electoral year, political parties received RD$1,610 million, of which 80% by law is distributed to the three parties that have obtained 5% or more of the votes in the previous 2012 election – PRD, PLD and PRSC. The remainder, or 20%, is distributed among the minority political parties.
The new decision demotes the PRD to minority party status, with a considerable decline in resources to be received for political activities.
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Listin Diario
8 February 2017
