The 2020 protests in the Dominican Republic, also known as the youth movement, comprise a series of massive congregations, both in the Dominican Republic and internationally, which took place from Sunday, February 16 to Thursday, March 12. of 2020, as a result of the Central Electoral Board suspending municipal elections for the first time in the entire history of national democracy. This decision was due to "errors" presented by electronic voting in the polling stations of 18 municipalities of the country, during the elections, in which around 62% of the votes were concentrated, despite the fact that manual votes, which were also applied in those demarcations, were being carried out without problems.
Quick Facts Date, Location ...
2020 Dominican Republic elections protests |
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Graph of the manifestations nationwide.
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Date | 16 February 2020 – 12 March 2020 |
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Location | |
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Caused by |
- Suspension of the municipal elections of February 2020.
- Distrust in the Central Electoral Board.
- Electoral fraud accusations due to "vulnerability of electronic voting".
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Goals |
- Placing the accused to investigate all the criminal acts that occurred before and after the 2020 electoral process, as was done in the prosecution of the accused, together with their respective sanction.
- Appointment of an Electoral Procurator by way of citizen political consensus and that is independent of the political organization.
- Live broadcast of all the hearings and consultation processes with the delegates of the political parties from here until the end of the electoral period.
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Resulted in |
- Suspension of the institution's IT director.
- Incorporation of the OAS in the investigation on the suspension of the municipal elections.
- Integration, independently, of supervisory delegates in the "Monitoring / Accompaniment Commission" before the plenary session of the Central Electoral Board, by the protesting society.
- Live broadcast of the vote count, after 5:00 pm on Sunday, March 15, the day of the postponed municipal elections, including the recording by the polling station delegates.
- Defeat of the ruling party (PLD) in the presidential and municipal elections.
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Death(s) | 2 |
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Close
The suspension of the elections generated discontent that transcended all social sectors. A group of young people, through their social media accounts, called on all Dominicans to congregate in the Plaza de la Bandera, becoming the largest manifestation in the country in recent national history, among those called by civil society. In this way, pressure was sought on the authorities, first of all, so that they resigned, going on to an investigation of what happened, the culprits were punished, and subsequent transparent elections were held.
The night before the municipal elections on Sunday, February 16, several technicians from the Central Electoral Board were working with the automated voting machines trying to fix a few identified issues with the electronic voting machines, but without previously notifying the political delegates. After a meeting that lasted all morning, it was reported that there had been a failure in the ballots of some polling stations, which did not show all the candidates, and it was promised to resolve the problem before seven in the morning, time in which the elections should begin.
The environment prior to the voting was characterized by some isolated acts of violence (which resulted in four injuries), a complaint of proselytism, with the distribution of money and household items, supposedly to benefit the ruling party candidates. Faced with the situation, the president of the Central Electoral Board had called on the parties and their leaders to "remain calm" and asked that they collaborate so that the elections would pass "in peace." A commission of the Modern Revolutionary Party went to the headquarters of the institution of the elections, to denounce that its leaders supposedly were "victims of aggression."
On the other hand, the Parties had been called in an emergency because the information was disseminated that "in some schools where automated voting would be used, the devices had been manipulated by the JCE technicians without the presence of the delegates of the parties". The leaders of the Fuerza del Pueblo party met at 10:00 pm with the members of the observers' mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) due to this situation. The automated vote would be used in 9,757 municipalities of 18 municipalities, specifically those that surpassed 13 candidates for councilors, in which 62% of the votes were concentrated.
The incidents recorded on Saturday, February 15, the day before the municipal elections, occurred in Enriquillo, Barahona and in Castañuelas, Montecristi. In both cases, it was reported that there were clashes between leaders of the Modern Revolutionary Party and the Party of the Dominican Liberation.