The iconic Plaza de la Bandera in Santo Domingo has become the epicenter of the discontent of thousands of people in the Dominican Republic following the cancellation of municipal elections. The elections were to be held on February 16, however, the process was suspended by the electoral authorities four hours after the polling stations were opened for alleged failures in electronic voting, a system that was used for the first time in the electoral day of the country.
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The authorities explained that in several voting centers the machines did not allow to see all the candidates on the list. Opposition leaders have pointed out that it is an “attempted sabotage” of the elections by President Danilo Medina, center, in power since 2012. Meanwhile, thousands of citizens, mainly young people fed up with the Dominican political class, They have taken to the streets of the capital and other cities to show their repudiation. On Sunday, in an unprecedented action in this Caribbean country, 13 opposition parties called for a demonstration to demand "respect for democracy." The Electoral Tribunal has called new elections for March 15. The country will also hold presidential and legislative elections in May.
This Monday marks eight days of the worst political crisis in this country in the last two decades, after years of stability and economic growth. The Dominican economy grew 7% in 2018, according to World Bank data, which has placed it as the fastest growing country in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the same way, poverty and inequality have been reduced, but the thousands of people who are concentrated, dressed in black, in the Plaza de la Bandera have made their discontent visible before the irregularities of the voting process and the corruption of the political class that keeps thousands of Dominicans in poverty.
The crisis broke out four hours after the elections began on Sunday 16. The authorities of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) announced that they were suspending the elections in which seven million Dominicans would participate to elect the authorities of the 158 municipalities of the country . The Dominican Republic had invested 19 million dollars in the purchase of more than 50,000 electoral machines for these elections, considered a test for the presidential elections on May 17. In addition, the total cost of the organization amounted, according to local media, to more than 60 million dollars. The electoral authorities announced that half of the machines did not work. “It was neither sabotage, nor error, nor fortuitous case. For the bulk of the population, what actually happened in the municipal elections was a blatant crime against Dominican democracy, ”former president Leonel Fernández wrote in Listín Diario , the country's leading newspaper.
Since then, thousands of young people have come out to demonstrate. This is a generation that was born in democracy, for whom the Trujillo dictatorship and the years of ignominy of Joaquín Balaguer, when electoral fraud and political persecution marked the passage in the Dominican Republic, are now far away. This generation demands that the economic growth of your country go hand in hand with a modern democracy.
They have been joined by Dominicans from all social strata, including the neighbors of the wealthy capitals of Piantini or Bella Vista. The demonstrations in the Caribbean country sometimes seem like a revelry or a carnival with salsa, merengue or reggaeton playing from the speakers. "It's pa 'out they go," is the scream that is heard in unison. Each protest day closes with a massive pan. On Sunday, after the opposition's march, party leaders read a manifesto in which they demanded that the electoral authorities "fulfill the responsibilities attributed to them by the Constitution to organize free elections, with fairness, objectivity and transparency." This Monday, social networks presented a new call to demonstrate, many young people wrote their discontent under a label that is a declaration of intent: "Dominican Republic Awakened."