The irregular reception and registration of candidates for the May 2006 Congressional and municipal elections and the decision about their approval or annulment has captured the country’s interest, especially that of political parties that are participating in the process. Diario Libre reports that today, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) will hold a plenary session despite the absence of Judge Roberto Rosario, who suddenly announced he was going on a 15-day vacation. The agenda for the meeting had been modified several times by JCE President Luis Arias Nunez. Rosario stated that he did not want to be an obstacle for the electoral process. The judge’s substitute is Dr. Cesar Antonio Jazmin, who said he would take Rosario’s place in the plenary session. Jazmin stressed that although he respects Rosario’s decisions, he does not necessarily agree with them.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, political parties continued to make corrections to their lists of candidates in the JCE. Personal information such as names, identification numbers, addresses, photographs and positions are being corrected, and candidacies left vacant on 17 March are being filled. According to Rosario and the PLD delegate, the call for elections issued on 26 January 2006 established that candidates for Senator and deputies were to be registered at the JCE, whereas candidates for municipal positions were to be registered at each corresponding Municipal Electoral Board.<\/p>\n
The PLD is asking the JCE to annul proposed candidates for Congressional and municipal positions who were registered past midnight on 17 March by PRD and PRSC. For his part, PRD president Ramon Alburquerque is claiming that the PLD is trying to discredit the JCE to try and get it restructured before the elections and substitute officials opposed to implementing plans that would jeopardize the transparency of the process.<\/p>\n
Among the issues to be resolved at the plenary session is the case of a Dominican-Puerto Rican citizen who was registered as a municipal candidate for by Union Democrata Cristiana (UDC) but who has not been issued a Dominican ID card and a change of residence requested by Victor Gomez Berges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The irregular reception and registration of candidates for the May 2006 Congressional and municipal elections and the decision about their approval or annulment has captured the country’s interest, especially that of political parties that are participating in the process. Diario Libre reports that today, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) will hold a plenary session despite … <\/p>\n