Dominicans vote for a new president Sunday under the shadow of the coronavirus
Dominicans will go to the polls on Sunday to choose a new president in the first elections held in Latin America since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, but the pandemic is likely to weigh heavily in the minds of many voters and some experts fear it might actually affect the end result.
The latest polls show opposition leader Luis Abinader ahead of President Danilo Medina’s candidate to replace him, former Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo, with a comfortable lead that varies between 10 and 20 percentage points, depending on the survey.
But fears of catching the COVID-19 virus could keep many votes at home during election day, a factor that could benefit Castillo, whose party -- the ruling Dominican Liberation Party -- is deemed to have a better get-out-the-vote organization than Abinader’s Modern Revolutionary Party, analysts said.
“The polls are saying that it is not only possible that Abinader will win outright in the first round of voting, but that his party could also take control of Congress,” said Diego Moya-Ocampos, senior analyst of Latin America of London-based IHS Markit.
“But one thing is what the polls say and another is the actual voting in times of a pandemic. Many people will simply decide to stay home, and what we could have here is an election defined by the group that has the best capacity to mobilize and convince people to go out and vote,” he added.
About eight million Dominicans are registered to vote in the elections, in which three-time former President Leonel Fernández is also running, though he appears well behind Abinader and Castillo in the polls.
If none of the candidates manages to win more than 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, a second round would be held on July 26.
A recent poll also claims that the risk of catching the virus worries about 30 percent of the population. In the last two elections, participation reached 70 percent of registered votes.
Elections were initially scheduled for May 17, but were postponed because of the pandemic.
In an attempt to reassure the population, the country’s Central Electoral Board announced that it will enforce strict social distancing rules, requiring voters to wear face masks, maintain a two-meter distance while standing in line and to enter the polling station, one at a time, only after disinfecting their hands.
The elections are being held at a time when the pandemic is still at an early stage. The Caribbean nation has registered 34,197 confirmed cases and 765 deaths so far and has been implementing strict social distancing measures.
Some argue that some of the latest measures are too much, including a fine as high of $1,700 for failing to wear a face mask and a public campaign depicting skulls and graves to remind Dominicans that the coronavirus kills.
That campaign aims “to spread terror” and foment abstention during election day, said Participación Ciudadana, the local chapter of Transparency International, a non-profit group.
As the election nears, some people say might make it to the vote. “I say that if I will go if I can, because I would like to vote, but I have problems and I don’t know if I will end up going,” said Margarita, who lives in the low income neighborhood of La Ciénaga in Santo Domingo.
But Amanda, who resides in El Dique, another neighborhood near the Ozama river, said she was determined to vote, feeling that the fear of COVID-19 is being exploited by politicians.
“Look how I go around with my Manitas Limpias [alcohol gel lotion] because we need to watch out for the virus. But there is no virus. What we have is politics,” she said.
This story was complemented with el Nuevo Herald wire services.
