After the deadline for registering candidates for the upcoming Congressional and municipal elections was extended and the protests from several political organizations that this decision has generated, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) will meet tomorrow to decide about the eligibility of candidacies registered after the original deadline. Diario Libre reports that this will be a crucial meeting as the electoral judges are divided on the issue. Another problem the JCE needs to address is the fact that political parties have not registered candidates for Senator and deputy in several provinces. In yet other cases, lists of candidates that were supposed to be registered at the Municipal Electoral Board were taken to the JCE. Yesterday, Judge Roberto Rosario accused JCE Secretary Antonio Lockward Artiles of manipulating the deadline to allow for the enrollment of the PRD\/PRSC alliance candidates after the date established by the law. For his part, Judge Luis Nelson Pantaleon stated that if those candidacies are challenged even if they were late, the political party system in the country would be damaged and “nobody knows what could happen”.<\/p>\n
According to El Caribe, more uncertainty was added to the situation when yesterday, Lockward stated that he had extended the deadline with the approval of JCE President Luis Arias. It is unknown what position Arias will take regarding Lockward’s statement that points to him as jointly responsible for accepting candidacy proposals from the PRD\/PRSC alliance. The extended deadline was last night at midnight. Yesterday, PQDC, PNVC, PRN and PLLE parties had their candidacies rejected.<\/p>\n
Listin Diario reports that JCE Judge Rafaelina Peralta stated that six out of the nine judges on the board authorized the PRD and PRSC to enroll candidates at the municipal level in the central office instead of the Municipal Electoral Boards as established by law. According to Peralta, the judges who approved the decision were Luis Arias, Salvador Ramos, Luis Nelson Pantaleon Gonzalez, Rafael Diaz Vasquez, Ramon Hernandez Dominguez, and herself.<\/p>\n
In a separate story, Listin Diario reports that a PLD commission led by Secretary General Reynaldo Pared Perez will file a complaint opposing the enrolment of candidates by the PRD\/PRSC alliance presented after the deadline established by law. They are due to visit the JCE at 10:00 am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After the deadline for registering candidates for the upcoming Congressional and municipal elections was extended and the protests from several political organizations that this decision has generated, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) will meet tomorrow to decide about the eligibility of candidacies registered after the original deadline. Diario Libre reports that this will be a … <\/p>\n