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Permanent Council Receives Report on Elections in the Dominican Republic that Highlights Normality of Electoral Process

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today received the verbal report of the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) on the elections in the Dominican Republic on May 20, which stated that the elections took place normally.

The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, congratulated “the people and government of the Dominican Republic for the electoral process carried forward”, and also the former Uruguayan President Tabaré Vazquez, for the seriousness he displayed throughout the electoral mission.

The Secretary of the Department of Political Affairs of the OAS, Kevin Casas-Zamora, read the report written by ex President Vazquez, which stressed the “normality” in which the election took place, while at the same time noting “isolated reports” about vote buying by various political parties.

Meanwhile, Casas-Zamora, who was present on the day of the election, stressed “the enormous professionalism and the sheer quality of the organization of the election”, in which the candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party, Danilo Medina, was elected President, with 51.21 percent of the votes cast. “The electoral organization in the Dominican Republic has little or nothing to envy of any country in the world”, added Casas-Zamora.

The MOE was composed of 71 technicians and observers from 15 OAS Member States and 6 Permanent Observers, who were deployed throughout the country’s territory.

On another point of the agenda, the Permanent Council appointed the Ambassador of Colombia, Andres Gonzalez Diaz, as Chair of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs.

The Permanent Council also agreed to convene a meeting on Monday, September 10 to discuss the methodology that will used in the “process of strengthening the Inter-American System of Human Rights,” according to a specific mandate of the General Assembly held in Bolivia in past June.

In another agenda point, the creation of a joint Work Group of the Permanent Council and the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development was approved to take up the project of a Plan of Action for the Social Charter of the Americas, and designated the Ambassador of Peru, Walter Jorge Albán, as Chair of the group.

During their addresses, the ambassadors welcomed the new Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia to the OAS, Sonia Johnny.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video of the event is available here.

The audio of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-303/12