2016 Dominican Republic general election

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2016 Dominican Republic general election
Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg
15 May 2016
Registered6,765,245
Presidential election
←  2012
2020  →
Turnout69.60% (Decrease2.svg 0.63pp)
 
Danilo Medina en 2016.jpg
Luis Abinader in 2021.jpg
Candidate Danilo Medina Luis Abinader
Party PLD PRM
Running mate Margarita Cedeño Carolina Mejía
Popular vote2,847,4381,613,222
Percentage61.74%34.98%
Map Electoral Dominican Republic (2016).svg
Presidential results by province
President before election

Danilo Medina
PLD

Elected President

Danilo Medina
PLD

General elections were held in Dominican Republic on 15 May 2016 to elect a president, vice-president and the Congress, as well as 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament, municipal councils, mayors and vice mayors. [1] [2] On 15 May 2015 Roberto Rosario, president of the Central Electoral Board, said that there would be about 4,300 seats up for election in the "most complex elections in history". [3]

Contents

Background

The previous parliamentary elections were held in 2010, and fresh elections would have usually been due in 2014 as Congress has a four-year term. However, in an effort to revert to the pre-1996 system and synchronize the dates of presidential and parliamentary and local elections in a single electoral year, the congressional term starting in 2010 was exceptionally extended to six years in order for the next congressional and municipal elections to be held alongside the next presidential elections due in 2016.

On 19 April 2015 the political committee of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party decided, without consensus, to amend the constitution to allow a president to be re-elected once, allowing incumbent President Danilo Medina to be presented for re-election, based on his high poll ratings. [4] This led to tensions between party members and leaders, especially amongst supporters of Leonel Fernandez who was a pre-candidate for the elections. There was also an impasse in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, where senators and representatives close to Fernandez stated that they would not vote in favour of the Act to Call the Revising National Assembly to amend the constitution. [5] [6] [7] After several weeks of internal disputes, the political committee, including Fernandez and Medina, agreed on 28 May to vote for the amendment. [8] The amendment passed the Chamber on June 2. [9]

Electoral system

The president was elected using the two-round system; if no candidate had received more than 50% plus 1 of the vote, a second-round runoff would have been held in June 2016. Presidents are limited to serving two consecutive terms of four years.

In the Congress, the 190 members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected in three groups; 178 were elected using proportional representation from 32 multi-member constituencies based on the 31 provinces and the Distrito Nacional, with the number of seats based on the population of each province. A further seven were elected by proportional representation in a separate constituency for expatriates and five allocated nationally to parties that received at least 1% of the vote, with preference given to those that did not win any of the 178 constituency seats. [10] The 32 members of the Senate were elected from the 31 provinces and the Distrito Nacional using first-past-the-post voting. [11]

Coalitions

The coalition led by the Dominican Liberation Party includes:

The coalition led by the Modern Revolutionary Party includes:

Results

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Danilo Medina Dominican Liberation Party and allies2,847,43861.74
Luis Abinader Modern Revolutionary Party and allies1,613,22234.98
Guillermo Moreno García Country Alliance 84,3991.83
Elías Wessin Quisqueyano Christian Democratic Party 20,4230.44
Pelegrín Castillo National Progressive Force 16,2830.35
Minou Tavárez Mirabal Alliance for Democracy 16,2560.35
Hatuey de Camps Revolutionary Social Democratic Party 8,2640.18
Soraya Aquino National Unity Party 5,6780.12
Total4,611,963100.00
Valid votes4,611,96397.94
Invalid/blank votes96,7832.06
Total votes4,708,746100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,765,24569.60
Source: JCE

Congress

Diagrama Camara de Diputados 2016.svg Diagrama Senado 2016.svg
PartyVotes%Seats
House+/–Senate+/–
Dominican Liberation Party 1,794,32541.79106+1026–2
Modern Revolutionary Party 877,10120.4342New2New
Social Christian Reformist Party 393,1259.1618+71–3
Dominican Revolutionary Party 336,2017.8316–611+1
National Unity Party 135,8663.160000
Alternative Democratic Movement 91,2222.121000
Social Democratic Institutional Bloc 90,5162.110–11+1
Country Alliance 63,0731.471New0New
Quisqueyano Christian Democratic Party 57,7861.351+100
Dominican Humanist Party 55,5311.290000
Civic Renovation Party 48,6891.130000
Broad Front 45,3101.061000
Dominicans for Change 38,0300.890000
National Progressive Force 37,1970.870–100
Liberal Reformist Party 30,5030.713+31+1
Green Socialist Party 24,8230.580000
Christian Democratic Union 23,7650.550000
Dominican Workers' Party 21,4570.500000
Institutional Democratic Party 20,8450.490000
Revolutionary Social Democratic Party 20,3230.470000
Christian People's Party 19,3740.451000
Alliance for Democracy 18,2770.430–100
Liberal Party of Action16,5620.390000
People's Democratic Party 11,9880.280000
National Citizen Will Party 10,5070.240000
Independent Revolutionary Party 10,2620.240000
Present Youth Movement5710.010New0New
Total4,293,229100.001900320
Valid votes4,293,22995.67
Invalid/blank votes194,5164.33
Total votes4,487,745100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,380,72270.33
Source: JCE

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References

  1. ↑ Elections in the Dominican Republic : May 20 Presidential Election Archived October 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine IFES
  2. ↑ Daily News Archived May 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine DR1, 13 September 2013
  3. ↑ Falta un año para las elecciones más complejas Archived May 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine elCaribe, 15 May 2015 (in Spanish)
  4. ↑ PLD someterá reforma a la Constitución para la reelección Diario Libre, 20 April 2015 (in Spanish)
  5. ↑ Diputados de Leonel se rebelan contra CP del PLD El Nacional, 20 April 2015 (in Spanish)
  6. ↑ Senadores del sector leonel dicen sería "incoherente" restablecer reelección Archived October 3, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Santiago Informa (in Spanish)
  7. ↑ Legisladores peledeístas en desacuerdo con línea del Comité Político DiarioLibre, 21 April 2015 (in Spanish)
  8. ↑ PLD presenta acuerdo entre Danilo Medina y Leonel Fernández Listin Diario, 28 May 2015 (in Spanish)
  9. ↑ Fieser, Ezra (June 2, 2016). "Dominican Republic Approves Law Allowing Medina to Run in 2016". Bloomberg News. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies) IPU
  11. ↑ Senado (Senate) IPU
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