SANTO DOMINGO.-The president of the Central Electoral Board, Román Jáquez, assured yesterday that the country will have democratic and transparent elections thanks to the economic guarantee that it will have for the assembly of the primaries and the elections of the year 2024, when all the elective positions will be elected. popular in two processes, the municipal level scheduled for February 18 and the presidential and congressional one that will be on May 19.
The plenary session of the JCE met yesterday with President Luis Abinader and from that meeting they came out with good news, after they had complained that the 2,500 million pesos allocated for this year’s budget were not enough for the logistics of the elections. of the next year.
The executive promised the allocation of another two billion pesos credited to this year’s budget, reaching RD$4.5 billion, of which RD$500 million will be to meet debts from last year, which according to the president of the Plenary of the JCE, Román Jáquez, will allow them to work on the purchasing and contracting projects necessary for the primaries and the elections.
The additional two billion are a leveling of the 2022 budget, and in case resources are needed, it was agreed to hold periodic meetings with the Ministry of Finance and with the Budget Office to work on a complementary budget to settle debts from the electoral processes, If necessary.
Another topic discussed was electoral reform, for which President Abinader promised to make efforts to ensure that the JCE’s proposal in aspects such as the control and rendering of expense reports by the candidates and the violation to the limits, they can be socialized with the political powers of the State, such as the National Congress.
Government spokesman Homero Figueroa, who also participated in the meeting, assured that the Plenary of the JCE was invited to discuss the request for a budget increase and the modifications to the Law on Parties and the Electoral Regime.
Regarding these laws, President Abinader promised to make efforts so that the JCE’s proposal in aspects such as the control and rendering of expense reports by the candidates and the violation of the ceilings, can be socialized with the political powers of the State, such as the National Congress.
The legal consultant of the Executive Power also participated in the meeting.
Process guarantee
– Executive
President Luis Abinader expressed his commitment to democratic institutions and to the full guarantee of electoral processes, and reiterated that the elections are guaranteed by his administration.
JCE Activities
Mounting. The Central Electoral Board began a calendar of 376 activities in 2021 and will end in December 2024 with a meeting with members of the electoral boards to evaluate the previous training process. The first activity on the calendar was the start of work for the analysis of the minutes of the 2020 electoral colleges.
Recently, the Plenary of the JCE complained because the modification to the Electoral Regime Law took away the power to intervene in different aspects of the processes.
