By: Staff Writer
May 14, 2024
The Dominican Republic’s presidential election are set for this Sunday, May 19 with the front runner being the incumbent, Luis Abinader, looking to solidify his lead in the polls.
Abinader looks like he’s on solid footing to win a second term. He is one of the region’s most popular leaders, with an approval rating of roughly 70 percent. His anti-corruption message has resonated with citizens and, under his leadership, the Dominican Republic has boasted one the highest GDP growth rates in Latin America.
Recent polls show three out of nine registered candidates are leading the race for the presidential elections. Abinader is at the top with 59 per cent support, which would be enough to win in the first round. A member of the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM), Abinader has been president since 2020. He won the previous election on an anti-corruption platform. His tenure has been characterized by a pro-business attitude, a willingness to increase social expenditure and work for transparency.
Campaigning is underway across the Caribbean nation of eleven million which shares the island of Hispaniola with crisis-torn Haiti and is a close regional ally of the United States.
The migration of Haitian refugees to the Dominican Republic and domestic criticism of Abinader’s approach to border security have become highly salient. High inflation and large government debts are also firmly on the electorate’s agenda.
Having enjoyed a period of democratic stability since 1996, Dominican civil society is undergoing a period of turmoil.
Last week, representatives of Fernández’s party Fuerza del Pueblo (FP) and other opposition groups travelled to the offices of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington D.C. to report electoral manipulation and fraud on the part of Abinader and his party, PRM.
The country’s stance on Haiti too is in the balance as one candidate for the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Miguel Vargas Maldonado, reiterated his position of rejecting attempts to install refugee camps for Haitians in the country.
“We reject any attempt to establish refugee camps for Haitians in the Dominican Republic,” Vargas Maldonado said.
“We are the ones who have collaborated and supported the Haitian people the most, but we cannot continue to be burdened with any solution to Haiti that has to do with the Dominican Republic.”
Abortion too is on the election agenda as the Church has come out seeking to find their pro-choice candidate out of the lot.
Manuel Ruiz, secretary of the Life Commission of the Episcopal Conference, and his team have mapped the candidates according to pastoral zones, seeking to let each parish know about the pro-life candidates in their territory. After identifying their allies and opponents, the Catholic Church plans to promote prayer and encourage parishioners to vote in favor of the chosen candidates. Ruiz noted, however, that “it was a draft that had been sent to the priests’ and bishops’ private chat for correction, and that an incomplete one was leaked.”
“We want to say that if those who do not think like us, who are pro-abortion, who believe in same-sex marriage, we respect them. We are exercising our right to do this because the Church does not live on the moon, the Church lives on earth and is the institution that has the greatest presence in this country,” Ruiz said.