The Citizen Participation Civic Movement demanded this morning that the National Congress urgently get to know the modifications to the electoral laws and deplored the lack of will that “the political actors” have in knowing the regulations, despite the proximity of the electoral process for 2024.
In this sense, he highlighted the valuable contributions contained in the proposal made by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) on the modifications, which he said are very well founded.
In a public document, the entity, which represents Transparency International in the Dominican Republic, said that “we see with concern the lack of will of the political actors for the modifications of Law 15-19 of the Electoral Regime and Law 33-18 of Political Parties. , Groups and Political Movements”.
“In the last electoral contest, the difficulties in making the electoral and party laws operational were evident and recognized, which clearly did not fulfill their mission in those substantive aspects of the political-electoral culture. It is important to mention that some articles of the aforementioned laws have been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court”, said Joseph Manuel Abreu, national coordinator of Citizen Participation, during a press conference held together with other leaders of the entity.
The civic leader stressed that since the beginning of this year, political and social actors, together with representatives of the JCE, have sat down to discuss the reforms of the electoral system within the framework of the Economic and Social Council (CES).
You may be interested in reading: TSE: it is urgent to modify party and electoral laws
Abreu specified that a report on the results of the dialogue tables had already been delivered, without Congress assigning it the urgency it deserves, given the imminence of an electoral process that already shows signs of haste.
He considered that, with the beginning of the legislature, it is urgent that Congress put on the agenda the discussion of laws 33-18 and 15-19 for their modification, in order to strengthen the electoral and party system.
“Political parties are fundamental instruments in the consolidation and deepening of the democratic functioning of the nation, and in turn key institutions of representation. However, when the regulations are not efficient, preventive and sanctioning enough, serious distortions occur in the political system and equity, transparency and legitimacy, fundamental values of democracy, are affected”, he maintained.
Abreu affirmed that the institution understands that all sectors are aware of the deficiencies of the aforementioned laws and that it is necessary to correct them before embarking on a new electoral process.
In this order, the civic movement emphasized some modifications proposed by the Central Electoral Board that have a lot of impact and need to be approved in time, so that, in 2024, the country can come out stronger.
Regarding Law 15-19, he said that it is necessary to deal with the advances and guarantees in horizontal and vertical gender parity, reduction of campaign opening terms, elimination of the sum of votes, with the exception of the level senatorial, reduction of the caps on campaign expenses per organization and per candidacy, reduction of the caps on individual contributions and a more democratic formula for the distribution of seats.
He also cited the establishment of electoral crimes and offenses and their sanctions, establishment of a Public Electoral Ministry, deadlines and sanctions related to income and expense reports, establishment of crimes against the integrity of elections
While with regard to Law 33-18 on Political Parties, Movements and Groups, it proposes the modification of deadlines for requests and approvals of recognition, establishment of new electoral administrative infractions, modifications to the period of internal campaign and choice of candidates, caps of pre-campaign expenses and contributions to the candidates, types of advertising allowed and prohibited and the modification of the responsibilities of the JCE in the primaries of the parties.
