General elections were held in the Dominican Republic on 19 May 2024 to elect a president, vice-president, 32 senators, 190 deputies and 20 PARLACEN deputies.
Incumbent President Luis Abinader won re-election to a second term with a majority of the vote in the first round, eliminating the need for a runoff.
Electoral system.
The President of the Dominican Republic is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives 50% + 1 vote, or more, of the total votes, a second-round runoff is held between the two candidates with the highest votes in the first round.
The 32 members of the Senate are elected from the 31 provinces and the Distrito Nacional using first-past-the-post voting.
The 190 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected in three groups; 178 are elected by 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 members are elected by proportional representation by Dominican expatriates in three overseas constituencies, and five seats are allocated at the national level to parties that received at least 1% of the vote nationally, giving preference to those that did not win any of the 178 constituency seats.
The 20 seats in the Central American Parliament are elected by proportional representation.
Conduct.
Around eight million people were eligible to vote in this election. Voting began at 07:00 on 19 May and closed at 17:00. The process was described as smooth, apart from small irregularities reported by opposition parties.
Campaign.
Among notable issues during the campaign was the effects of the political unrest in Haiti and increased migration from the latter country. During a debate, President Abinader pledged to continue the deportation of illegal immigrants and finish construction of a wall along the border with Haiti. Both Leonel Fernandez and Abel Martínez also supported a harsh stance on migration.
Results.
Preliminary results showed that Abinader had won outright re-election in the first round with around 60% of the vote, while his Modern Revolutionary Party was expected to win a supermajority in the Congress of the Dominican Republic.
Senate.
The Modern Revolutionary Party won a supermajority in the Senate, seeing their seat total increase from 17 to 24.
Chamber of Deputies.
The Modern Revolutionary Party won a supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies, the first time a political party achieved this in modern Dominican history.
Aftermath.
Both Leonel Fernandez and Abel Martínez conceded to Abinader shortly after the release of the result. In his victory speech, Abinader said that the "changes that we’ve made are going to be irreversible”, adding that the "best is yet to come".
Re-elected President Abinader, after obtaining a supermajority in both houses, announced a constitutional reform.
References.
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