It is already known that from next July the teacher Editrudis Beltrán will be the new rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), after being the winner in the election process held at the house of higher studies on June 15.
Professors Wilson Mejía, who will head the Teaching Vice-Rectory, and Radhamés Silverio, who will be in charge of Research and Postgraduate, were also made official on election day.
However, of the 108 positions that were in dispute, only 86 were elected, which is why the Central Electoral Commission of the academy will hold a second round this Wednesday to complete the election of the new authorities of the Primate of America.
The committee made a call once again to the electoral bulk of the study center to elect the vice-chancellors of Extension and Administration; although the participants to them, Rosalía Sosa and Ramón Desangles, are unique candidates because those who came in second declined their aspirations.
Sosa, who reached 42.2 percent of the votes with 971 votes, was going to face Professor Bautista López García, who obtained 584, for 25.4 percent. While Desangles, who achieved 1,140 to reach a percentage of 49.6 percent, would be competing with Alexi Martínez, who achieved 1,071, to obtain 46.6 percent.
Enerio Rodríguez, president of the organizing commission for the elections, said that the process will be similar to the previous one, it will take place from 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night and the institution’s security body will be in charge of monitoring the voting centers and the entrance gates of the university.
He stated that the rules will be different, since the winners will be chosen by a simple majority, unlike in the first round where the winners had to have 50 percent plus one of the votes cast.
He explained that the elections will not be valid if at least 60 percent of the voters do not vote, for which he invited voters to participate massively in the elections.
Likewise, he declared that it is a statutory and regulatory duty to cast the vote in the positions submitted to the second vote, even in cases where there is only one candidate.
The new deans and vice-deans of the faculties of Humanities, Education, Arts and Sciences will also be elected on the election day; as well as the director of the Santiago campus and the Nagua and Higüey centers.
The university suspends work and teaching
Due to the celebration of the second round, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo suspended administrative work and summer classes at the institution’s headquarters, campuses, centers, and subcenters until Thursday, June 30. In a statement, the rector Emma Polanco called on teachers, students and servers who are part of the voter registry, to exercise the right to vote in accordance with the rules of the process.
