{"id":250411,"date":"2026-04-22T05:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=250411"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:40:23","slug":"opcion-democratica-says-apathy-is-the-most-difficult-obstacle-in-new-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/04\/22\/opcion-democratica-says-apathy-is-the-most-difficult-obstacle-in-new-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Opcion Democratica says apathy is the most difficult obstacle in new politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Miguel Mart\u00ednez, general secretary of the Opci\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica (OD) party, identifies citizen apathy and systemic inequality as the primary hurdles for emerging political organizations in the Dominican Republic. Elected in October 2024 through a direct vote by the members of the party, under a strict no-reelection policy, Mart\u00ednez balances his role as a civil engineer with the “intense” responsibility of “motorizing” a party that operates without the vast resources of traditional political machineries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge of political antipathy
Mart\u00ednez argues that the greatest “silent adversary” is the deep-seated frustration of a populace that views all political parties as nests of corruption. To break this cycle of apathy, he advocates for consistent aligning political discourse with ethical practice to prove that politics can exist without clientelism. He says he is reconnecting citizens by presenting politics as a necessary tool for solving collective problems rather than a path to personal gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A system of “deep inequality”
Mart\u00ednez describes a political landscape designed to favor incumbents and those with significant financial backing. He points to several systemic barriers:
\u2022 Disproportionate spending: Campaign finance limits are often ignored, allowing candidates to deploy millions of pesos without effective oversight, which relegates policy proposals to the background.
\u2022 Fiscal Ccnstraints: As a “young” party, OD relies heavily on its membership. Mart\u00ednez noted that a recent party raffle raised over RD$4 million, a sum exceeding the annual funding the party receives from the Central Electoral Board (JCE).
\u2022 The cost of entry: He warns that when millions are required to win a seat, the resulting governance is often compromised by the need to repay donors rather than serving the public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Institutional growth and the 2024 setback
Opci\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica managed to secure a seat in the 2020-2024 Congress; however, after choosing to run independently in the 2024 elections, the party failed to retain its legislative representation. Despite this, Mart\u00ednez emphasizes the party\u2019s role as a necessary “counterweight” to the current government’s legislative majority, which he believes has weakened national oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mart\u00ednez, the survival of parties like Opci\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica is vital to preventing the rise of authoritarianism and ensuring that Dominican democracy remains functional through diverse representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more in Spanish:
El Dia <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

22 April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miguel Mart\u00ednez, general secretary of the Opci\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica (OD) party, identifies citizen apathy and systemic inequality as the primary hurdles for emerging political organizations in the Dominican Republic. Elected in October 2024 through a direct vote by the members of the party, under a strict no-reelection policy, Mart\u00ednez balances his role as a civil engineer … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[340,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250411"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250477,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250411\/revisions\/250477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}