The deputy and acting president of the Social Christian Reform Party (PRSC), Pedro Botello, reaffirmed this morning that this organization fully supports the position of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) in terms of providing itself with “claws” to be able to sanction parties that violate the rules.
Botello expressed the position of the spokesman for the block of senators of the entity, Ramón Rogelio Genao, in the opposite sense, it is personal.
Genao supported the reform project of the Organic Law 15-19 of the Electoral Regime approved again yesterday in the first reading in the Senate, without setting sanctions for those who do not report campaign expenses and other restrictions required by the Board.
While the spokesman for the senators of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Iván Lorenzo, confirmed that the endorsed project is the same as it had been on December 20 of the year and that the electoral body complains about. Lorenzo also proposed that sanctions against turncoats be included in the Electoral Law and that automated voting and counting be established.
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Botello, who is also a spokesman for the bloc of PRSC deputies, said that his organization maintains an invariable position of support for the JCE’s position that campaign spending by political parties must be capped.
He also stressed that the electoral body asks that the use of State resources be sanctioned and that the candidates who receive funds from the sector give their reports to determine if it is ill-gotten money or public funds.
“Any position contrary to the one established by the Reformist Party in relation to the Junta is personal. The party has been very clear in supporting the Central Electoral Board, which is the institution responsible for organizing the elections and which is currently doing everything possible to provide a clear and transparent electoral process. Genao’s position is personal, that is not the position of our party, ”he said.
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The spokesman for the PLD senators block, Iván Lorenzo, said that on most of the issues raised by the JCE, he was pleased.
He recognized, however, that the project approved yesterday in the first reading in the Senate is almost the same as the one that had been endorsed in that chamber on December 20 of last year.
He suggested that for the second reading, the issue of sanctions for turncoats be introduced to the project, and automated voting be established, as well as the count.
“We approved the digitization requested by the Supreme Court of Justice, however the JCE wants to perpetuate itself with a manual vote, it wants to continue being analogous, but sanctions must also be considered for defectors,” Lorenzo considered.
The Senate unanimously approved yesterday afternoon in first reading the Organic Law of the Electoral Regime, proposed by senators Ramón Rogelio Genao and Alexis Victoria Yeb.
