Dominican Republic presidential election, 2012

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Dominican Republic presidential election, 2012
← 2008 20 May 2012 (2012-05-20) 2016 →
  100px Hipolito mejia.jpg
Nominee Danilo Medina Hipólito Mejía
Party PLD PRD
Running mate Margarita Cedeño Luis Abinader
Popular vote 2,323,150 2,129,997
Percentage 51.21% 46.95%
President before election

Leonel Fernández
PLD

 President-elect

Danilo Medina
PLD

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Presidential elections were held in the Dominican Republic on 20 May 2012.[1] They were the fifth quadrennial elections for the presidency and vice-presidency since 1998, when a change in the electoral law separated the presidential from the congressional and municipal elections.[2]

As specified in the new constitution ratified in January 2010, the presidential elections of 2012 coincided with the election of Overseas Deputies in Dominican expatriate communities.[3] Since 1974, elections in the Dominican Republic took place on 16 May every four years. Nevertheless, the constitutional reform of 2009 stipulated in article 209 that the elections would be held on 20 May 2012 to avoid their falling on a work day.[1] Candidates for the presidency competed for the highest number of votes, with the leader needing more than 50% of valid ballots to avoid a second round.[4]

Danilo Medina of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party was elected president with a majority of votes in the first ballot.

This was the first election to involve participation by Dominican citizens abroad. In addition to voting for the president and vice-president, Dominican expatriates participated in by-elections for seven new seats (within three overseas constituencies) in the Chamber of Deputies.[5]

Background

In 2008, Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Liberation Party defeated candidates Miguel Vargas Maldonado of the Dominican Revolutionary Party; Amable Aristy Castro of the Social Christian Reformist Party; Eduardo Estrella of the Revolutionary Social Democratic Party; Trajano Santana of the Independent Revolutionary Party; Guillermo Moreno of the Movement for Independence, Unity and Change; and Pedro de Jesús Candelier of the Popular Alliance Party in the presidential elections,[6] while the Dominican Liberation Party maintained a considerable majority in both houses of Congress.[7] The main topics of the campaign of 2008 were the issue of reelection,[8] the macroeconomic stability maintained by the Fernández government,[9] and the alleged corruption which dominated the political landscape.[10] The Santo Domingo Metro and other national matters were also important topics, especially during the final months of the campaign.[11]

During Fernández's third presidential term several public works projects were carried out, a second line of the metro was opened, tourism grew, and free-trade zones were expanded.[12] There was a constitutional reform,[13] new judges were appointed to the Supreme Court,[14] and the Electoral and Constitutional Tribunals were created.[15] Several treaties were ratified, including seven bilateral accords with the government of Haiti on the Bolivarian Solidarity Fund to finance projects, border security, commerce, migration, health, the environment, and agriculture, as well as an accord with Colombia on air transport.[16][17] Also passed was a law granting fiscal amnesty to all employers behind on their payments into the Social Security system; nonetheless, the attempt to apply it in its entirety failed.[18][19]

In the congressional and municipal elections of 2010, the Dominican Liberation Party won the majority of representatives in both houses of Congress, while the Dominican Revolutionary Party only managed a few seats in the Chamber of Deputies and none in the Senate.[20]

A 2011 poll found that the majority of Dominicans were unhappy with the government.[21] Nevertheless, although many Dominicans believed that Fernández could lead them through the economic difficulties, they showed themselves to be dissatisfied with his program.[22]

The internal crisis of the two main contending parties led to divisions within both of them, unleashing mutual defections among their members.[23] The PRD was afflicted with the most complicated internal conflict.[24] In spite of agreeing to campaign in a civil fashion in a resolution signed by both parties in March 2012,[25] this was not observed and the parties pursued an aggressive campaign strategy.[26]

Electorate

6.5 million Dominican voters were eligible to vote in the 2012 election.[27] There were 14,470 polling places open for the election: 13,865 precincts were located within the Dominican Republic, while an additional 605 precincts were open overseas.[27] Approximately 300,000 expatriates, making up around 5% of the total electorate, were eligible to vote abroad.[28] The election board had set up official precincts for Dominicans voters living in the United States, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Panama, Switzerland and Venezuela.[27] More than 100,000 of the eligible voters resided in the U.S. state of New York.[29]

Electorate by age and sex

Age Range Women Men Total Percentage
  16-29 888,510 865,755 1,754,265 27.0
  30-39 747,387 727,760 1,475,147 22.7
  40-49 653,423 640,059 1,293,482 19.9
  50 or older 1,004,744 975,330 1,980,074 30.4
  Total 3,294,064 3,208,904 6,502,968 100

Electorate by province

Province Voters Percentage
Santo Domingo 1,254,526 19.29
Distrito Nacional 775,417 11.92
Santiago 685,874 10.55
San Cristóbal 349,598 5.38
La Vega 282,955 4.35
Duarte 220,061 3.38
Puerto Plata 219,537 3.38
San Pedro de Macorís 190,405 2.93
Espaillat 169,704 2.61
San Juan 169,454 2.61
La Romana 152,090 2.34
Azua 144,268 2.22
Peravia 124,594 1.92
Monseñor Nouel 123,734 1.90
La Altagracia 121,119 1.86
Monte Plata 118,195 1.82
Barahona 114,852 1.77
Sánchez Ramírez 113,196 1.74
Valverde 104,958 1.61
María Trinidad Sánchez 100,644 1.55
Hermanas Mirabal 83,878 1.29
Monte Cristi 76,003 1.77
Bahoruco 65,179 1.00
Samaná 64,340 0.99
Hato Mayor 62,892 0.97
El Seibo 55,909 0.86
Santiago Rodríguez 47,605 0.73
San José de Ocoa 46,538 0.72
Dajabón 46,303 0.71
Elías Piña 40,629 0.62
Independencia 32,460 0.50
Pedernales 17,402 0.27

Expatriate electorate

Country Voters Percentage
United States 223,250 37.9
Spain 62,670 19.1
Lesser Antilles 11,531 3.5
Italy 9,581 2.9
Venezuela 5,848 1.8
Panama 5,439 1.6
Switzerland 4,261 1.3
Canada 2,697 0.8
Netherlands 2,564 0.8
France 520 0.2
Germany 288 0.1

Political parties

A total of 24 political parties were represented on the electoral ballot, including the two large parties and 22 small parties. The small parties are those which do not receive more than 10% of the vote and which are clearly not directly rivaling the main candidates. These parties generally choose to ally themselves with one of the large parties.[30] Thirteen parties were previously rejected by the Central Electoral Commission.[31]

Primary elections

The Dominican Liberation Party and Dominican Revolutionary Party held primary elections with the following results.

Notas[32][33]

Candidates

Six candidates ran in the election, with former president Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) and ex-parliamentarian Danilo Medina of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) being considered most likely to win. Mejía and Medina had already faced each other in the 2000 election.[34] The constitution barred incumbent president Leonel Fernández of the PLD from running for a third term.[35]

Candidate Age Political organization Proclamation of candidacy Vice-presidential candidate
Hipólito Mejía 70 Dominican Revolutionary Party 6 March 2011 Luis Abinader
Danilo Medina 60 Dominican Liberation Party 26 June 2011 Margarita Cedeño
Guillermo Moreno 55 National Alliance 7 August 2011 Chiqui Vicioso
Eduardo Estrella 59 Dominicans for Change 18 September 2011 Fauntly Garrido
Max Puig 66 Alliance for Democracy 11 August 2011 Luz María Abreu
Julián Serulle - Broad Front 5 June 2011 Fidel Santana

Results

e • d Summary of the 20 May 2012 Dominican Republic presidential election results
Candidates – Parties Votes %
Danilo Medina – Dominican Liberation Party and allies 2,323,150 51.21%
Hipólito Mejía – Dominican Revolutionary Party and allies 2,129,997 46.95%
Guillermo Moreno – Country Alliance 62,290 1.37%
Eduardo Estrella – Dominicans for Change 9,340 0.21%
Julián Serulle – Broad Front 6,550 0.14%
Max Puig – Alliance for Democracy 5,064 0.11%
Total valid votes 4,536,391 100.00%
Source: Junta Central Electoral
File:Dominican Republic - Presidential election 2012 - Results by province.svg
Results of the Dominican Republic presidential election, May 16th, 2012, by province (candidate in first position)
  Danilo Medina
  Hipólito Mejía

Reactions

After the PLD declared victory, supporters of Mejía complained about cases of fraud, including vote-buying, and announced to contest the result. Mejía refused to concede to Medina and doubted the result. The PRD representative on the Central Electoral Commission claimed that the official result reflected much less votes than Mejía should have had received, and indicated that the head of the commission was a partisan of the PLD. Amid an overall orderly electoral process, there were some reports of adherents of both major parties offering money to voters in exchange for voting for their candidate or for passing their vote cards. Incidents of vote-buying were confirmed by the observers from the Organisation of American States (OAS), headed by Uruguay's ex-president Tabare Vazquez. However, they considered the cases not sufficient to distort the overall result, and described the election by and large as "successful".[36]

References

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  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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