LatinNews Regional Monitor: Caribbean & Central America - 21 February 2020

Protesters gathered outside the JCE in a heavy downpour to demonstrate against the suspension of the municipal elections. The JCE had suspended the elections just four hours after voting began on 16 February after the automated voting system, being used in the country’s most populous municipalities to speed up the count, malfunctioned. The following day the JCE announced that the elections would be restaged on 15 March with a full manual count.

The ruling Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) currently controls 107 of the mayoralties; the main opposition Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM), 30, including the Distrito Nacional. The PRM complained that the JCE had not consulted it about the change of date. In a national broadcast on radio and television, President Danilo Medina responded to allegations of sabotage swirling around by calling on political parties to act with “responsibility” and “prudence”, but there is now a crisis of confidence in the JCE ahead of May’s presidential and congressional elections.End of preview - This article contains approximately 225 words.

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