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OAS and the Dominican Republic Sign the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities for the Electoral Observation Mission in May

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and the Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic, Ambassador Roberto Saladin today signed the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of Observers that the OAS will deploy for the Presidential General Elections and Ultramar Congress Elections to be held on May 20, in a ceremony in which both parties highlighted the support that the OAS has been providing to the Caribbean country in their electoral processes for 50 years.

In his speech, Ambassador Roberto Saladin recalled that in the next electoral event some 6.5 million citizens will choose the highest executive authorities of President and Vice President and, for the first time in the Dominican democratic history, 8 deputies representing the Dominican communities abroad will also be elected. "This is another example of the consolidation of representative democracy in the Dominican Republic in its 168 years of independence," he said.

At the signing ceremony, held at the organization's headquarters in Washington, DC, the Dominican diplomat said the presence of the OAS in the electoral process has been of great benefit to democracy in his country. "The OAS has traditionally accompanied our election officials in the voting processes. We were among the first countries where it conducted election observation; this participation has clearly served to strengthen our democratic processes," he added.

For his part, Secretary General Insulza thanked the government of the Dominican Republic for the new invitation it has extended to the OAS to observe the elections. "This is the fifteenth mission taking place in that country, in the framework of the 50 years of OAS electoral observation in the hemisphere," he remarked.

The head of the hemispheric organization recalled that the mission will be headed by the former president of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, who will make a preliminary visit in late April. He further stressed that the May elections will be the country’s first following the enactment of the new constitution of January 2010 that establishes a new electoral system.

The Secretary General also said that during the past two years, the OAS has been able to actively collaborate with the Dominican Central Electoral Board through two technical cooperation projects: the first was the development of a draft law that was introduced in Congress in late 2011, and the second was the recently completed audit of the electoral registry and its computer center.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Chair of the Permanent Council and Representative of Honduras, Leónidas Rose Bautista, as well as by delegates and representatives of the Mission of the Dominican Republic, among others.

A gallery of photos of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-116/12