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FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0458
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
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UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001347 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV DR
SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL AGENCY CONFIDENT IT HAS THE 
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES TO OVERSEE MAY CONGRESSIONAL/MUNICIPAL 
ELECTIONS; NOW IF IT ONLY HAD AN ADEQUATE BUDGET APPROPRIATION.... 
 
REF: A. SANTO DOMINGO 1343; B. SANTO DOMINGO 1216 
 
(U)  Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  The members of the Administrative Chamber of the Central 
Electoral Board (JCE), the Dominican Government's independent 
electoral body, are confident that their agency has the 
organizational capabilities to oversee free and fair 
congressional/municipal elections on 05/16/10.  They are concerned, 
however, that the recently approved 2010 national budget contains 
the same budget allocation for the JCE as in 2009 (a non-election 
year), while the JCE estimates it needs an additional USD 50 
million to cover election-related expenses.  The officials expect 
President Leonel Fernandez will follow through on his oral 
commitment to them to transfer the necessary funds from the 
Presidency's budget allocation, but acknowledge that the JCE's 
reliance upon the Executive Branch's largesse does not reinforce 
the electoral agency's image as an independent and impartial body. 
The JCE officials would like to see the proposed Political Parties 
Law enacted, as this would increase transparency and strengthen the 
agency's supervisory authority over campaign financing, but this is 
unlikely to happen in time to apply to the May elections.  While 
the constitutional reforms scheduled for promulgation on 01/26/10 
will split the JCE into two separate agencies, this will not occur 
until August, well after the elections have been decided.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U)  The three members of the JCE's Administrative Chamber, 
which is responsible for organizing, carrying out and supervising 
elections (as well as for operating the civil registry and the 
issuance of identification documents) -- Chairman Roberto Rosario, 
Jose Aquino and Cesar Felix -- accompanied by JCE General 
Administrator of Information Miguel Garcia and JCE National 
Director of Elections Joel Lantigua, met with Charge, A/DCM and 
PolEcon Counselor on 12/22/09, to provide a briefing on the JCE's 
preparations for and concerns regarding the May 2010 
congressional/municipal elections. 
 
 
 
BUDGET SHORTFALL HEADS LIST OF CONCERNS 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U)  While overwhelmingly positive on their assessment of the 
JCE's organizational capabilities to oversee free and fair 
elections, Rosario and his colleagues expressed concern over their 
agency's precarious financial situation.  They explained that the 
recently approved national budget for 2010 provides the exact same 
budget allocation for the JCE as the 2009 budget (2.433 billion 
pesos or USD 67.6 million) even though the JCE is tasked this year 
with carrying out what Rosario described as "the most complex 
election in the nation's history."  The JCE officials insisted that 
their agency will require at least an additional 1.8 billion pesos 
(USD 50 million) to cover election-related expenses, judging from 
the costs involved in holding the 2008 presidential elections. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Rosario said that President Leonel Fernandez has assured 
the JCE that sufficient funds will be transferred from the 
Presidency's budget allocation to the electoral agency, but 
cautioned that this has to occur in January for the JCE to adhere 
to its preparatory schedule.  Aquino commented that this is how 
similar budgetary shortfalls have been handled in the past, adding 
that such shifting of funds is authorized by law.   The three JCE 
members agreed that their organization's dependency on the 
Executive Branch for massive last-minute financial transfers 
 
 
 
undermines the JCE's image as an independent and non-partisan 
electoral agency, but, they lamented, unfortunately that is how 
this process tends to work in the Dominican Republic. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  A secondary concern, according to Rosario, is the 
possibility that candidates of the ruling Dominican Liberation 
Party (PLD) and its Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) allies 
will use government resources to further their campaigns.  He said 
that the JCE carries out preventive education to discourage this 
practice and also has the legal authority to take measures when 
such acts occur.  The JCE members cited as past examples their 
organization's forcing the government to halt improper payments to 
one of its nominees, ordering the provisional arrest of 30 people 
in Montecristi Province for interfering in the electoral process, 
and mandating the removal of posters.  They acknowledged, however, 
that the JCE's enforcement and deterrent powers are limited, as its 
authority to address electoral crimes lapses once the elections are 
over; then it falls to Public Ministry prosecutors to pursue 
violators. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U)  Rosario said that there was no danger that the law 
requiring that one-third of each party's or alliance's candidates 
be female would be transgressed.  The JCE, he vowed, will strictly 
enforce this rule, and any party or alliance that does not comply 
will find that its list of candidates will be rejected in toto. 
Aquino commented that the JCE is on its guard and will not permit 
parties to engage in the past practice of registering a female 
candidate, then having her resign at the last minute to be replaced 
by a male. 
 
 
 
ELECTION MECHANICS 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U)  The JCE officials provided the following read-out on 
election mechanics and preparations: 
 
 
 
n  There will be over 4000 electoral contests (mostly municipal 
council posts), including races for the 32 Senate seats, 178 
National Deputy slots, as well as 384 municipal and municipal 
district mayor, deputy mayor and municipal council positions. 
 
 
 
n  Electoral Alliances need to be registered by 03/02/10, while all 
candidates have to be registered by 03/17/10. 
 
 
 
n  There are 26 national parties and one municipal movement 
registered.  Most of the small parties will eventually ally 
themselves with either the PLD or the opposition Revolutionary 
Dominican Party (PRD), in return for a quota of candidacies (both 
major parties are reserving 15 percent of their nominations for 
alliance partners) and so as not to lose their party registration 
(which happens if a party fails to receive two percent of the vote 
in the last presidential race or if it does not have a 
representative in Congress). 
 
 
 
n  There currently are 6,098,227 registered voters, a number that 
is projected to rise to 6,102,089, including 333,840 new voters. 
 
 
 
n  Ballots will be cast at 13,588 voting tables located at 3,940 
electoral precincts nationwide. 
 
 
 
 
n  Voter turnout is expected to be around 50 percent since this is 
not a presidential contest (56.5 percent of voters cast ballots in 
the 2006 congressional elections, while 70.7 percent voted in the 
2008 presidential race). 
 
 
 
n  The JCE, through 2,457 training workshops, has trained and 
approved 54,960 temporary personnel, the largest share of whom are 
university students, to staff the voting tables. 
 
 
 
n  The JCE is currently ahead of its preparatory timeline for the 
elections, with a 90 percent completion rate on the selection of 
personnel for scanning and data entry, development of the electoral 
computation program, and the purchase of scanners. 
 
 
 
n  The scanners will be used to speed up the reporting of election 
results, with the JCE expecting to report on 71 percent of the vote 
the evening of the elections, including the exact composition of 
the Senate, the number of deputies each party/alliance will win 
(the identity of the winning deputies will take more time as votes 
are cast for a party's list of legislators and voters have the 
option of casting one preferential ballot for a particular 
candidate, which is tabulated separately) , and the results of the 
most important mayoral races. 
 
 
 
RELATIONS WITH POLITICAL PARTIES 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U)  The JCE members said that they have excellent relations 
with the major political parties, consult regularly with their 
leaderships (meetings every three months, which will be increased 
in the run-up to the elections until there are weekly 
get-togethers), and have provided extensive technical assistance to 
both the PLD and opposition Revolutionary Dominican Party (PRD) in 
running their respective primaries (Ref A).  The major parties have 
permanent representatives stationed at the JCE's information 
management and electoral offices, as well as liaison officials at 
the 150 JCE municipal branches.  In February, the JCE plans to 
conduct training for political party personnel who will be 
stationed at voting tables to monitor the balloting and computation 
of votes.  In addition, the JCE will be distributing 1.14 billion 
pesos (USD 31.6 million) in public financing to the political 
parties, 80 percent of which will go equally to the PLD and the PRD 
(having obtained over five percent of the vote in the last 
election) and 20 percent to the smaller parties (who obtained less 
than five percent). 
 
 
 
PROPOSED POLITICAL PARTY LAW 
 
 
 
¶9.  (U)  The Congress has been considering for the past 10 years a 
draft law regulating political parties and their activities, and 
there was an expectation that this legislation would be passed in 
time for it to apply to the May 2010 election campaign.  The JCE 
officials expressed their hope that this law would be enacted, as 
it would mandate transparency and give them greater means to 
control campaign financing and expenditures and help lessen the 
possibility that narcotraffickers could buy influence over 
candidates.  (COMMENT:  Passage of the Political Parties Law in 
time for its application to the congressional/municipal elections 
appears increasingly unlikely.  The bill is still mired in 
committee, Congress is scheduled to end its current "extraordinary" 
session on 01/11/10 and will not commence it next "ordinary" 
session until 02/19/10.  END COMMENT). 
 
 
 
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS 
 
 
 
¶10.  (U)  The JCE currently consists of a three-member 
Administrative Chamber, which organizes, carries out and supervises 
elections, and also operates the civil registry and the issuance of 
identification documents; a five-member Dispute Resolution Chamber, 
which resolves electoral and internal party disputes; and  a nine 
member plenum, made up of the members of the two chambers and 
presided over by JCE President Julio Castanos Guzman (REF A), which 
sets policy and handles internal administrative details.  Under the 
constitutional reform to be promulgated on 01/26/10, the plenum and 
its president will disappear; the current Administrative Chamber 
will henceforth be the JCE (and its members will continue to be 
chosen by the Senate), with enhanced authority to regulate campaign 
financing and expenditures; and the Dispute Resolution Chamber will 
be transformed into a new Superior Electoral Tribunal, made up of 
between three and five members to be chosen by the National 
Judicial Council. 
 
 
 
¶11.  (U)  These changes will not occur until August 2010, however, 
when the current JCE's members' terms were already scheduled to 
end, and thus, the three JCE members explained, will not have a 
direct impact on the May electoral process.  They added that the 
constitutional reforms will require major revisions in existing 
legislation and regulations dealing with elections, the civil 
registry and the issuance of identification documents.  Rosario 
stated that the Organization of American States may finance a 
consultant to assist the JCE in preparing for these legislative and 
regulatory changes. 
 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  Embassy shares the JCE's confidence that it has the 
organizational capabilities to carry out successfully the May 2010 
congressional/municipal elections.  USAID provided significant 
technical and resource assistance to build up the JCE's 
capabilities following the latter agency's reorganization under the 
1994 Constitution, and, following the well-organized and highly 
transparent 2008 presidential elections, deemed the JCE had 
"graduated" from the need for further USAID electoral support.  The 
chief concern regarding the "fairness" of the upcoming election 
focuses on the possible use of government resources to further the 
campaigns of candidates for the ruling PLD/PRSC alliance.  The NGO 
Participacion Ciudadana (PC), which receives USAID funding, is 
taking the lead in organizing an observation mission that will 
focus on the political campaigns, in addition to the actual 
balloting on election day.  Post will closely monitor the campaigns 
and the voting/tabulation on May 16. 
 
 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  We also share the JCE's uneasiness with the budgetary 
process, which has left that organization completely reliant on the 
Presidency for the funding required to carry out the 
congressional/municipal elections.  While the current JCE is less 
politicized than in previous years, its independence and 
impartiality would be better served were it to have a sufficient 
budget allocation of its own.  In addition, the nine JCE members 
could be vulnerable to political pressure as all will complete 
their terms in August 2010 and their reappointment will be in the 
hands of the National Judicial Council (dominated by the Executive 
Branch and ruling PLD party) in the case of the new Supreme 
Electoral Tribunal, or the Senate (likely to remain under the 
control of the PLD) in the case of the JCE.  END COMMENT. 
Lambert