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Statement of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission in the Dominican Republic

  February 16, 2020

Given the extraordinary circumstances that have taken place in recent hours, the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) understands the decision of the Central Electoral Board of the Dominican Republic to suspend all of the municipal elections.

The Mission was informed on Saturday night about problems in the configuration of the ballot in the automated voting machines. Subsequently, the Central Electoral Board held a meeting with the parties, with the presence of an OAS technical team, to report on the situation and agree on a protocol for the solution of this problem beginning today at 5 in the morning.

Moreover, OAS observers deployed in some municipalities of the country confirmed the impossibility of timely resolving the failures detected in time to begin the vote.

The OAS Mission calls on the electoral authorities and the political actors of the country to hold a frank and constructive dialogue about the next steps to be undertaken to address this complex reality. In this context, the Chief of the Mission, former President of Chile Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, has reported the events to the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, who has reiterated the support of the OAS Mission to continue with the work of the electoral process.

Reference: E-009/20