Members of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) expressed to the bicameral commission that studies the proposal of constitutional reform that in order to unify the municipal, congressional and presidential elections, as proposed by the Executive Branch, it would be necessary to strengthen the technological resources used in electoral processes.
The Plenary of the organization revealed that the joint holding of the elections would require a increase in the number of polling stations, so it would be necessary to implement the system of automated voting or acquire more automated counting equipment (such as the vote counting system used in May) to successfully complete the process.
This Thursday, the JCE presented the implications and needs of celebrating the joint elections before the bicameral commission which is studying the bill that proposes to reform the Constitution.
The unification of the elections would mean that they would be carried out nine scrutiny processeswhich would delay the mechanism for computing the results. Along these lines, the need to eliminate the system of preferential vote for the levels of councillors and vocalists.
He first bulletin of a electoral process set would be (based on the projection of the computer science department of the JCE) starting at 1:00 a.m., with about 25% of the centers computed.
Among the needs of the electoral administration The reduction of voters per polling station from 600 to 300, the installation of almost 30,000 polling stations and the expansion of the voting schedule (from 6:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon).
Unification also requires a number of modifications to the legal framework that governs the Dominican electoral system which include, in addition to the Constitution, Law 20-23 on the Electoral Regime and 33-18 on Parties, Movements and Political Groups.
Plenary will make a report
At the end of the presentation of the technical and logistical implications for the unification of the elections, Pedro Catrainpresident of the bicameral commission The senator, who is in charge of the project, said that a decision would be made in the coming weeks. “Starting on Monday, the commission will enter into a process of internal discussions and in a week or so we will make the decision to draft the final report,” said the senator.
The Senate Commission that evaluates the candidates for the Plenary Session of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) set the work schedule, in order to receive and study the documents of the candidates. In the session on Wednesday, Senator Julito Fulcar, coordinator of the commission, detailed the calendar to follow. In this regard, from today until Saturday, September 28, the files of the interested parties will be received. They may deposit them on the Senate website and in person through the Commissions Department, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The commission agreed that, from Monday, September 30 to Wednesday, October 2, the files will be purged. On Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5, the list of candidates will be published in two newspapers. Starting on October 9, the evaluations will begin in groups of 30 people per day. Then, the lists of three candidates will be presented to the Plenary Session.
