The Dominican Republic is days away from\u00a0a general election that will see voters elect new lawmakers and the president\u00a0as they weigh the nation\u2019s economy and security. <\/p>\n
Among those seeking the Caribbean nation\u2019s highest office\u00a0on May 19\u00a0are the current president, a former president, and a mayor. If no presidential candidate receives over 50% of the vote, a second round will be held on June 30. Here\u2019s a look at the candidates and issues: <\/p>\n
The Dominican Republic\u2019s current president, Luis Abinader, is seeking re-election for a second term that would keep him in office until 2028.\u00a0The 56-year-old\u00a0economist and businessman first assumed the presidency in 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic \u2013 following in the footsteps of his senator father, a three-time presidential candidate. <\/p>\n
Leading the ballot of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) with his slogan \u201cThe change continues,\u201d\u00a0the popular leader\u00a0is now\u00a0promising four more years of economic growth and stability.\u00a0During his\u00a0first\u00a0term\u00a0from\u00a02020\u00a0to\u00a02024, the\u00a0Dominican Republic\u00a0established a new record\u00a0in the tourism industry,\u00a0with more than 10 million tourists visiting the island in\u00a02023. <\/p>\n
Experts now expect Abinader to focus on the priorities of his first term, expanding on development, reform, and the fight against corruption. He has promised reforms for the National Police, health sector, and education. <\/p>\n
Abinader\u2019s\u00a0government\u00a0has shown a commitment to addressing long-standing challenges\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0energy\u00a0sector.\u00a0But the World Bank says\u00a0the Dominican Republic\u00a0has more work to do\u00a0in\u00a0increasing transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the sector; continuing with the diversification of\u00a0the energy matrix among others. <\/p>\n
\u201cAbinader has a first rate and well-coordinated economic team,\u201d says economist and former\u00a0Dominican\u00a0ambassador to the US, Bernardo Vega.\u00a0But\u00a0Vega\u00a0notes that\u00a0increased\u00a0losses in the electric distribution system\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and\u00a0a resulting\u00a0increase in\u00a0external\u00a0debt\u00a0\u2013\u00a0have not\u00a0reflected well on his administration. <\/p>\n
Abinader\u2019s handling of\u00a0a spiraling\u00a0political and social crisis\u00a0in\u00a0neighboring Haiti\u00a0has also had mixed reviews.\u00a0For\u00a0voters living close to the border, the question of whether measures like deportations and closing the country\u2019s border to Haiti have been effective in insulating the Dominican Republic from shocks in Port-au-Prince will be top of mind, according to political analyst Rosario Espinal. <\/p>\n
During his\u00a02020\u00a0campaign run,\u00a0Abinader\u00a0promised to fight corruption, and later appointed what he described as\u00a0the\u00a0country\u2019s\u00a0\u201cfirst independent\u201d\u00a0\u00a0attorney\u00a0general. <\/p>\n
\u00a0Critics\u00a0argue that his administration\u2019s anti-corruption push\u00a0focused\u00a0disproportionately on members of the Dominican Liberation Party,\u00a0which held power for many years\u00a0before Abinader\u2019s election. <\/p>\n
Nevertheless, experts say the crackdown on corruption, along with his handling of the pandemic, are widely seen as achievements. <\/p>\n
A familiar face to voters will be Leonel Fern\u00e1ndez, 70, who has already held the Dominican presidency three times: from 1996 to 2000, from 2004 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2012. <\/p>\n
Fernandez is most known\u00a0modernizing the Dominican Republic\u2019s\u00a0state institutions and justice system, including the constitutional reform that led to the 2010 Constitution, according to experts. <\/p>\n
One of his major contributions was during his first term when Fernandez privatized the energy distribution sector and\u00a0sold shares to private investors in the\u00a0electricity\u00a0companies that until then\u00a0had been\u00a0owned by the government,\u00a0according to\u00a0Vega. <\/p>\n
The ex-president is also recognized\u00a0in the Dominican Republic\u00a0for\u00a0advancing and building national\u00a0infrastructure,\u00a0such as\u00a0the subway system\u00a0that\u00a0transformed the capital city of Santo Domingo.\u00a0As a result,\u00a0Fernandez\u2019s presidencies\u00a0had\u00a0a\u00a0major impact on tourism in the eastern region, experts\u00a0say. <\/p>\n
But many voters will also likely remember that government corruption ran high during\u00a0his 12 years as head of state, Vega\u00a0says. <\/p>\n
Today,\u00a0Fernandez\u00a0heads the ticket of the\u00a0Force of the People\u00a0party, which he founded in November 2019 after losing the party primaries of his former party, the Dominican Liberation Party. <\/p>\n
Recently, Fernandez has promised to push forth public policies aimed at reducing poverty, the construction of decent homes, better education, comprehensive health, and citizen security, among others. <\/p>\n
His\u00a0platform has focused on inequality in the country, with \u201ccalls for wealth redistribution and social justice,\u201d according to Americas Quarterly. The five-time presidential candidate has also reportedly said he would back a new United Nations peacekeeping mission to Haiti. <\/p>\n
Abel Mart\u00ednez, 51, is a Dominican politician, educator and lawyer with a wide-spanning career in public service. Most recently the mayor of Santiago until last month, Martinez got his start as deputy prosecutor in capital city Santo Domingo, and then as a prosecutor in Santiago in the 1990s. <\/p>\n
He later became a deputy to the country\u2019s National Congress, serving three terms from 2002 to 2016 and presiding over the Chamber of Deputies for six years. <\/p>\n
Martinez is focused on heightening tech across multiple sectors, per Americas Quarterly,\u00a0as well as strengthening\u00a0the country\u2019s prison system and surveillance at the border with Haiti. <\/p>\n
Martinez is focused on ending hunger and poverty, better education for students and teachers, and fighting\u00a0crime and citizen safety. <\/p>\n
The youngest candidate running for president\u00a0also campaigns\u00a0against illegal immigration, especially of Haitians. <\/p>\n
Crime and safety are among the biggest concerns of Dominicans\u00a0in this election, according to several surveys, although government data indicates that crime has decreased in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2023, with\u00a0the\u00a0homicide\u00a0rate falling by 30.2%. <\/p>\n
Since June 2023, the US State Department\u00a0has\u00a0maintained\u00a0a\u00a0Level 2 travel advisory for\u00a0the\u00a0Dominican Republic and recommends tourists exercise increased caution\u00a0due to crime. <\/p>\n
Pablo Flores resides in Santo Domingo and has his own business, a mini market. At one point, rampant crime forced him to temporarily shutter the business, he recalls. Today, for fear of being robbed, he has taken his own precautions; a fence protects the entire perimeter of his small business. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t take care of myself, who is going to take care of me? Crime must go down because it\u2019s very high,\u201d says Flores. <\/p>\n
Hand-in-hand with street crime are the Dominican Republic\u2019s economic woes. <\/p>\n
According to\u00a0the World Bank, over the last two decades, the Dominican Republic has been one of the fastest-growing economies in Caribbean. <\/p>\n
Yet the drivers of this exceptional growth\u00a0appear to be\u00a0reaching their limit due to low productivity growth in recent years, insufficient human capital to meet the needs of the business sector, climate change-related disasters, and distortions in key markets, including the inefficient allocation of tax exemptions,\u00a0according to\u00a0the World Bank. <\/p>\n
And while the\u00a0Dominican economy grew by 4.9% last year,\u00a0high inflation rates in\u00a0both\u00a02022\u00a0(8.8%)\u00a0and 2023 (4.8%)\u00a0have taken a toll on the population\u2019s quality of life. <\/p>\n
Yoely Escarlante, a mechanic, says he is struggling to support his four children, and keeps his small workshop in Santo Domingo open rain or shine. <\/p>\n
There are days when he can earn up to $100 (between 5,000 and 6,000 Dominican pesos) in a day, according to his calculations. But some days, he doesn\u2019t earn a dime, he says. <\/p>\n
The economic situation is also of great concern for Ney Segura, a public transportation driver. \u201cThe money just doesn\u2019t cut it,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0says. In his view, \u201cthe poor are poorer.\u201d <\/p>\n
More than 40% of Dominicans are economically vulnerable and are at risk of falling into poverty due to climate-related impacts and economic crises, according to the World Bank. Likewise, gender gaps in jobs and wages, shorter working lives, and higher unemployment and unpaid roles contribute to increased poverty among women in particular, it says. <\/p>\n\n
The Dominican Republic is days away from\u00a0a general election that will see voters elect new lawmakers and the president\u00a0as they weigh the nation\u2019s economy and security. Among those seeking the Caribbean nation\u2019s highest office\u00a0on May 19\u00a0are the current president, a former president, and a mayor. If no presidential candidate receives over 50% of the vote, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}