Electoral System and Political Parties

Elections in the Dominican Republic, held every four years, are organized, directed and supervised by the Central Elections Board (JCE, for its acronym in Spanish) and electoral boards under its control, which have the responsibility of guaranteeing the freedom, liberty, transparency, equality and objectivity of elections.

Central Elections Board

The Central Elections Board is an autonomous body with legal authority and technical, administrative, budgetary and financial Independence, whose primary purpose is to organize and direct electoral assemblies for the holding of elections and popular participatory mechanisms established by the Constitution and Dominican laws.  The JCE has regulatory powers and is made up of a president and four members and substitutes, chosen for periods of four years by the Senate of the Republic, with the vote of two thirds of senators present.  

Upper Electoral Tribunal

The Upper Electoral Tribunal is the body in charge of judging and presiding over, with definitiveness, contentious electoral matters and ruling on disputes arising within or between political parties, groups and political movements. It regulates, in accordance with the law, the procedures of its functions and everything related to its organizations and administrative and financial functioning. The tribunal is made up of no less than three and no more than five electoral judges and their substitutes, designated for a period of four years by the National Council of Magistrate, which will indicate which of the judges will occupy the presidency.

Political Parties

The Dominican Republic posseses a pluralistic political system. It maintains four major parties (PLD, PRD, PRM and PRSC) and numerous minotiry parties. The Dominican population is very politically active.

The most important political parties in the country are:

Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD)
http://pld.org.do

Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM)
http://prm.org.do

Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD)
http://prd.org.do

Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC)
http://www.prsc.com.do/

Los siguientes son los partidos minoritarios presentes en el país:

• Partido Revolucionario Social Demócrata (PRSD)
• Partido Quisqueyano Demócrata Cristiano (PQDC)
• Partido Movimiento Democrático Alternativo (MODA)
• Fuerza Nacional Progresista (FNP)
• Partido de Unidad Nacional (PUN)
• Alianza por la Democracia (APD)
• Alianza País (ALPAIS)
• Bloque Institucional Social Demócrata (BIS)
• Partido Humanista Dominicano (PHD)
• Partido Cívico Renovador (PCR)
• Unidad Demócrata Cristiana (UDC)
• Partido Humanista Dominicano (PHD)
• Partido Cívico Renovador (PCR)
• Partido de los Trabajadores Dominicanos (PTD)
• Partido Popular Cristiano (PPC)
• Partido Acción Liberal (PAL)
• Partido Socialista Verde (PASOVE)
• Partido Demócrata Institucional (PDI)
• Partido Liberal de la República Dominicana o “La Estructura” (PLRD)
• Partido Dominicanos Por El Cambio (DxC)
• Unión Patriótica Anti-Imperialista (UPA)
• Partido Revolucionario Independiente (PRI)

Referencias:
http://www.poderjudicial.gob.do/documentos/PDF/constitucion/Constitucion.pdf
www.jce.gob.do