As a result
of a wide-ranging agreement reached between the main political and social forces
on a thorough reform of the political and electoral system, as well as to
correct the fraud that was widely believed to have characterized the general
elections of 1994, the electoral law of the Dominican Republic, Law no. 275-97,
was promulgated in December 1997. It incorporated significant changes and
innovations, and article 82 made it possible for Dominican citizens who were
resident abroad to vote—although only in elections for the presidency and
vice-presidency of the republic.
Two main
factors assisted the recognition of the right to vote from abroad. First, establishing
it in the electoral legislation did not require any constitutional reform: the constitutional
norms relating to the ownership and exercise of political rights do not require
the vote to be cast within the national territory or in any determined
electoral district. Second, it was a justifiable demand made by the different
organized groups of Dominican residents abroad to which the main political
forces of the country were very sensitive.
To realize
this right, article 83 of Law no. 275 of 1997 authorized the electoral authority,
the Central Electoral Board (CEB), to put in place the necessary measures to guarantee
the implementation of external voting, and article 84 regulated its form and the
related procedures. The law specified that its implementation would be
considered for the presidential election of 2000 but it was up to the electoral
authority to decide when it would come into effect. The CEB decided that it
would not be in a position to regulate and guarantee the application of the
right to vote abroad in time for the 2000 presidential election, but that it
would do everything necessary to ensure its implementation for the presidential
election of 2004.
With the
electoral process of 2000 concluded, one of the first and main initiatives the
CEB took to fulfil its commitment was to set up a commission to study voting by
Dominicans from abroad. The commission was charged not only with examining the subject
exhaustively, including organizing discussion forums and consultation processes
with the political parties, interested sectors and so on, but also with
establishing coordination mechanisms with the executive agencies the
participation of which was indispensable to running the voting
abroad—especially the Ministry of Foreign Relations and its consular offices.
From the different
opinions expressed in these forums and consultation processes it was clear that
in order to guarantee broad participation by potential voters abroad— almost
all of them migrant workers—it was essential for the legal regulation to
include three basic principles—the total security of the vote, the freedom of
the vote, and total respect for the integrity of voters abroad. On this basis,
in June 2001 the CEB approved the Regulation for the Registration of Electors
Residing Abroad, which stipulated that registration centres would be
established in the countries where Dominicans were resident and where there
were consular or diplomatic offices of the Foreign Ministry, and previous
consultation with the legally recognized political parties. Under this regulation,
and working from the results of the consultation process with the political
parties and the available information on the numbers and locations of the
Dominican population abroad, the countries and cities where efforts would be
focused for the registration and voting abroad were gradually defined, on the
basis that there would be personal voting only.
Although
the regulation emphasized that all electors had the right to vote in the 2004 presidential
elections, the exceptions to this should be also emphasized. They include, for
example, Dominicans found guilty of a criminal offence in the country of
residence until they are rehabilitated. It is also important to note that the
regulation provides specifically for persons with dual citizenship, so that Dominicans
who have acquired another nationality can exercise the right to vote in
Dominican elections so long as they fulfil the legal requirements, and so long
as the country whose nationality they have adopted does not specifically ban
the exercise of this right within its territory.
Finally, in
January 2004, the CEB issued the Regulation on the Suffrage of the Dominican
Abroad, which affirmed the requirements for voters abroad as well as the precise
arrangements for the organization and logistics of the electoral process
abroad.
Registration
of electors and the implementation of voting from abroad
Essentially,
to be able to vote from abroad, the citizen must (a) be in possession of a
current identity and electoral card (which is issued by the electoral authority,
but only within the national territory, although an update or replacement may
be requested abroad); and (b) register within the correct time period for the
register of electors abroad, for which electoral registry abroad offices
(ERAOs) were set up.
In October
2001 the first ERAO opened in New York
City, which is the foreign city with the largest
number of Dominican residents. During 2002 registration offices opened in two
other US cities (Miami and Boston), Canada (Montreal),
Spain (Barcelona
and Madrid), Puerto Rico (San
Juan) and Venezuela
(Caracas), and in 2003 the last two were opened
in the United States (New Jersey and Lawrence).
The countries and cities where the great majority of Dominican residents abroad
lived were now covered. At the same time, and in order to direct, coordinate
and follow up the plans and necessary programmes for the implementation of
external voting, in October 2002 the Central Electoral Board set up the
Division for the Vote of the Dominican Abroad. Although in principle the CEB
anticipated closing the period for registration abroad in mid- December 2003,
it finally decided to extend it until 26 January 2004—less than four months
before the date set for the election—in order to give Dominicans abroad greater
opportunity to process their registration. At the end of this period, 52,431
electors were registered abroad.
Dominican
citizens who were enrolled in the definitive register of electors residing
abroad were disqualified from voting inside the Dominican Republic in the 2004
presidential election, but once that election was over they were again
qualified to vote in the legislative and municipal elections to be held in
2006, in which voting from abroad was not to be allowed.
On the
other hand, the 2004 Regulation on the Suffrage for the Dominican Abroad
confirms that only those Dominicans who have registered at the ERAO in time and
appear in the definitive register of electors residing abroad can take part in
presidential elections.
For
organizing the voting abroad, the regulation stipulated the creation of
logistic coordination offices (LCOs), which were in charge, along with the
Division for the Vote of the Dominican Abroad and after consultation with the
political parties, of identifying the premises where the electoral logistical
plan would be carried out—receiving, keeping and sending out election material
such as the ballot papers and ballot boxes—as well as those where the polling
stations would be located. The LCOs were also responsible for identifying,
recruiting, training and selecting the people who would actually manage the
polling stations abroad.
It is
important to note that, by agreement of the electoral authority and the
political parties, the polling stations abroad were installed not on the
premises of diplomatic and consular representations but in nearby and easily
accessible locations. The polling stations were organized in the same way as
they were in-country and their staff had to meet the same requirements as are
demanded in the Dominican Republic, but in addition they had be enrolled in the
registry of the district where they would carry out their functions. For the
promotional and informational tasks of the registry, as well as for the
identification and negotiation of the locations where the registration centres
and polling stations were to be placed, the support offered by organized groups
of Dominicans abroad was very important.
For
election day, 16 May 2004, the CEB issued a resolution regarding the schedules
for the voting from abroad. After consultation with the political parties, it
decided to define a special voting schedule for the cities of Barcelona
and Madrid:
the polling stations would open at 09.00 hours and close at 20.00 hours
local time. In other countries and cities voting would be according to the same
schedule as in the Dominican
Republic, from 06.00 to 16.00 hours (always
local time). Except for this variation, the voting abroad was carried out
according to the same principles and on the basis of the same organization as
in the national territory: Dominicans abroad who were properly authorized to
participate in the presidential election would go to their corresponding
polling stations and mark their preference on the ballot paper by means of the
free and secret suffrage. Once the voting was concluded, polling station staff,
in the presence of delegates of the political parties, carried out the counting
of the ballot papers and the results were set down in formal protocols which
were then taken to the LCOs. Each of these offices received the protocols of
the polling stations under their jurisdiction and counted the results from all
of them to transmit them to the CEB central offices in the Dominican Republic, where the final
count was done.
Thus, for
the presidential elections of 16 May 2004, 101 polling stations were installed
in 11 cities, seven of them in the United States, and 35,042 of the
52,431 registered electors voted—a participation rate of 66.8 per cent.
External voting in the Dominican Republic presidential election of 16 may 2004
Source:
<http://www.jce.do/stor/boletines/2004/Boletines2004/BExterior.asp>.
To meet the
expenses that the electoral process abroad implied, the CEB produced a budget
which was submitted for consideration and approval to the executive branch and
the two chambers of the legislature. The budget approved for the elections
abroad was 114,581,115 Dominican pesos (DOP—c. 2.6 million US
dollars (USD).
In this,
the country’s first experience of voting from abroad, the main difficulties
involved in organizing the voting by citizens abroad related to the logistical
aspects, and specifically the shipment and distribution of election material to
all the registration and voting sites. Another difficulty was linked to the
need to consider the legislation of the countries where the voting abroad was
carried out, and to introduce the necessary adjustments to facilitate the
organization of the voting abroad.
After the
2004 external voting experience, Dominicans abroad and political parties are
still interested in improving this mechanism in order to allow more citizens to
participate in the 2008 presidential election. The ERAO continues to register
Dominicans in the register of electors residing abroad, but there are many
citizens interested in voting who do not have the necessary identity and
electoral cards which, as is mentioned above, can only be obtained for the
first time within the national territory. As a compensatory measure, currently
Dominicans abroad can register on the national territory and receive
photographic proof of identity which they can take to the ERAO in the city
where they reside to obtain their ID and electoral card. Nevertheless this subject
continues to be debated, and the electoral authority has worked on a new
project that proposes to modify the procedures for obtaining an identity card.
This project, which must be approved by the plenary of the CEB, aims to
increase to almost 300,000 the total number of citizens registered by 2008.
After the 2004 elections and as of 4 December 2006, 7,027 additional citizens
had registered on the list of Dominicans abroad.
Finally, it
is important to note that there is currently no debate on the political agenda
about modifying or improving the current arrangements.
