Description of Electoral System

(Courtesy of IFES election guide)

The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 4-year term. In the Senate (Senado) 32 members are elected by popular vote to serve 4-year terms. In the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados) 150 members are elected by popular vote to serve 4-year terms.

Electoral systems snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for term definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR "comparative data" on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Most Recent Elections

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

On May 16th elections took place for the president and vice-president to be elected, who will take possession on August 16th, 2008.

Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna and Rafael Alburquerque De Castro of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) were reelected as president and vice-president respectively, after obtaining 53.83% of the valid votes that  were cast that Friday. Miguel Vargas Maldonado,  of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, got 40.48% of the votes, leaving 5.59% to the five remaining candidates. The results can be consulted at the Central Electoral Board's website, which is the insitution in charge of organising the elections in Dominican Republic.

Had none of the candidates obtained the absolute majority (50% of the vote plus one more vote) a runoff would take place on June 30th, since there must be 45 days between the first and second round. In the runoff only the two candidates who had received the highest number of votes the first time around.

The president is elected by popular vote at the polling stations (Colegios electorales) where the citizens themselves receive those votes, and then counts them. It is the citizens who tell the Central Electoral Board (Junta Central Electoral) who obtained how many votes, so that the list of elected candidates (Relación de Candidatos elegidos) can be published.

More information can be found at the Spanish version of this same page.

Parliamentary elections were held in the Dominican Republic on May 16th, 2006. They were won by the Progressive Bloc led by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), which took 96 of the 178 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 of the 32 Senate seats.