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OAS Observation Mission Calls for Patience in Awaiting Official Results of General Elections in Dominican Republic

  May 20, 2016

The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (EOM/OAS) in the Dominican Republic calls upon all actors in the process to patiently await the final results of the general elections held on May 15, which will be published by the Central Electoral Board (JCE), the only official source of electoral results.

The EOM, headed by former Colombian president Andrés Pastrana, invites the JCE to continue with the counting process in accordance with the principles of transparency, openness and legality in order to give the maximum certainty possible to the citizenship. In addition, it reminds all political actors of the importance of using the legal and institutional resources to solve potential differences in this last stage of the electoral process.

The Mission regrets the incidents of violence registered before and after the elections and urges all political actors and the citizens of the country to act responsibly. It is important that ballots and statements of polls are preserved given that are the expression of the will of the people. There is no place for violence in democracy.

The leadership of the Mission leaves the country today, finalizing the withdrawal of the 38-member OAS team, but will continue to monitor the development of events.

Reference: E-064/16