Santo Domingo.- The renowned political scientist Freddy Ángel Castro warned that one of the odds that has the Central Board to limit a hypertrophy of independent candidacies starting in the upcoming 2028 elections is through a regulation that, without violating rights fundamentalset conditions, such as the case of public financing, which should not reach those who are not nominated by parties, togroupings and movements politicians.
Freddy Angel explained that just as the electoral body It cannot require independent candidates to have 158 locations open nationwide, in the main municipalities, nor does it require them to maintain a roster of cadres throughout the country, so that they guarantee where that financing is invested.
The topic expert politicalsy electoral He added that, neither, JCE It is not going to require candidates without parties to dedicate 10% of the funds they receive to dedicate them to the educationsince they will not be recipients of state resources, that is, independent candidates must obtain their private financing, as parties do.
Interviewed by Hector Herrera Cabral in the program D’AGENDA which every Sunday is broadcast on Telesistema channel 11 and TV Quisqueya for the USAthe legal professional indicated that if the Board does not make the enforceability what it does to political parties to maintain themselves, independent candidates cannot be admitted to the discretion of the equality so that they use a fund, of which they will not submit a financial report.
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He clarified that the risk that independent candidates have is not only limited to the aspect of public financing, because there is another element which is the Directorate of TransparencyControl and Report, since it may be the case that an independent candidate receives more resources than a political party, coming from people linked to illicit activities who want to place candidates and obtain dominant positions in the State.
Then, that applicant has to be accountable to the department that has the Financial Control Board, because she cannot exceed the limit of the electoral campaign.
“Now what Congress has to do with the reform that must be carried out of the Electoral Regime law is to put more grip on it so that the Board is able to annul any candidacy that exceeds the campaign spending limit, as is done in other countries. Therefore, in the field of independent candidacies, it is nothing new; For example, in the United States there were six presidential candidates, as well as senators and representatives, who ran under that modality,” the political scientist suggested.
He recalled that the current president of ArgentinaJ.avier miley, It was an independent candidacy. “But there must be a regulation, and there the parties are right, in the sense that independent candidates have to comply with minimum conditions, because if not, then let the Sea come in.”
“There is a risk, and it is a greater risk, but an electoral candidacy is going to present itself to the Central Boardl Electoral simply with an act and a record. I think that, within the framework of Regulation“It would be necessary to establish minimum conditions of who are the people who are supporting an independent candidacy,” he insisted. Freddy Angel.
He stressed that it is necessary to present the minimum record of support that must be had to achieve recognition of a political party. “That’s why I say that there is a great challenge and debate on this issue, and rather than complaining you have to go deeper, I think it could be 0.5% of the general support, but I insist, an independent candidacy continues to be a factor of risk in the financing component.”
“Juan Orlando Hernández was removed from the presidency of Honduras and taken by the DEA to a North American prison, a politician who came from a traditional party and who became a narco president,” he said.
The recently passed substitute member of the Plenary of the Central Electoral BoardHe says he agrees with the decision of the Constitutional Courtwho ruled in favor of allowing independent candidacies in electoral processes.
Given the fears that an outsider could emerge in the country in the dominican politics, Castro He said that this is very closely related to voters’ displeasure with the political party system.
Freddy Angel Castro suggests leadership policy fulfill promises made to voters
Before the reviews and complaints what the political leadership has done to the sentence issued by the Constitutional Court that authorizes independent candidacies, the political scientisteither Freddy Angel Castro suggested that these organizations fulfill the promises they make to the electorate so that they maintain their trust.
“Yes, the political parties, what they do to you are such questionable practices as happened recently that, of the opposition trustees, 40 of them left for the government. «What practice are you seeing there, it is an action that is not healthy, so why do we currently have a 34% disenchantment with democracy in the country? They are due to those factors,” the expert warned.
He added that the call to the class policy is that they assign tasks well and fulfill what they promise, “because what the world is telling you is that you have a Nayib Bukele who arrives with an independent candidacy, breaks with the Farabundo Martí Front, and he is ruling de facto, and that is how Milei is, so the situation today is so complex that it is not where you rise, but what he determines and does in the government,” said Freddy Ángel.
He argued that, “even if you come from a traditional party, such as ADECO and COPEY in Venezuela, which generated a 25-year crisis with Chavismo, you can be an independent like Bukele and Miley, but here in the Dominican Republic there are also important tasks.” .
Another factor to take into consideration by the leaders of the political parties is the issue of Ramfis Trujillo, who in the last two tournaments electoral He has come in fourth place, and he has done so by vindicating neo-Trujillism, that is, they are voters who identify with the idea of what his grandfather, the dictator, embodied. Raphael Leonidas Trujillo Molina.
“What I say is that you have to do your homework, that you as a political class cannot continue to discredit yourself,” he stressed.
On the challenges that the main three have political parties Looking ahead to the year that has just begun, the electoral issues expert believes that the party of the Dominican Liberation He is the most advanced in his internal tasks, because he was able to hold his Congress to choose the party news, which went well.
In it case of the Modern Revolutionary Partyexplained that the oldest challenge that President Luis has Abinader It is to fight the work of the government with the large number of candidates for the presidential candidacy, whose leaders, with high positions in the public administration, will increase their proselytizing activities in search of the official nomination.
Freddy Angel Castro He says that the one who looks furthest behind is the Power of the Peoplewith a Internal Congress light, and it is not clear when they will be able to complete it to take steps towards a process of opening and renewal, allowing a transition in the matter of its leadership, although it recognizes that the leadership by Leonel Fernández is not in discussion.
