Dominican Elections

As I sit here a long parade of trucks, cars, pickups and motorcycles is traveling round Jarabacoa. The music is blasting, horns are sounding, people are waving white flags, wearing white shirts, holding signs for their candidate.  As the procession approaches it grows in number.  People join the parade while others sit and watch from the side of the street.  Today, the flags are white and are supporting Hipólito Mejía.  A few days ago, another parade passed in a similar fashion.  It's flags were purple and they were supporting Danilo Medina.  After months of parades and rallies that blast music in the night, we are very ready for election day, this Sunday, May 20th.

On paper the system here is similar to that in the US.  There were many parties but two have the focus - the PLD (Dominican Liberation Party) and the PRD (Dominican Revolution Party).

Recent History with the PLD and PRD
Presently, President Leonel Fernández is in office.  He represents the PLD.  President Leonel has been in office a total of 12 years.  From 1996 - 2000 he held the office but due to laws at that time, was unable to run a consecutive term.  In the 2000 election, Hipólito Mejía of the PRD won the presidency.  During Hipólito´s presidency, the laws were changed so that a president can hold office for two consecutive terms.  So in 2004, Leonel Fernández returned to challenge Hipólito Mejía.  Leonel was successful and regained the presidency.  President Leonel has been in office since then, August 2004.  On Sunday, Hipólito Mejía seeks to regain the presidency.  He faces PLD´s candidate, Danilo Marino.  Interestingly enough, Danilo's running mate for Vice-President is the current First Lady, First Lady Margarita Cedeño de Fernández.

Elections in the Dominican Republic are emotional.  People are tied to their party.  They feel that if their party is in power, they will have opportunity for jobs and other perks.  Very simply, if their party is not in power, they won´t.  Their feelings are backed by past experiences.  They know the system.  The winning party is able to appoint people to all of the government owned jobs.  Not just the directors, but each person employed by Public works (Police, fire, garbage collections, water, road ) has their job because their political party gave it to them.  For example - the men who come to pick up our garbage each week will lose their jobs if their party does not remain in office.  With so many jobs, many people are impacted.  People know it and are doing whatever they can so that their party is in office.

As foreigners, we have to be careful.  Historically elections are times of uncertainty and we have to respect that.  Recent elections have been much better, a trend we hope continues.  While we don't feel any danger, we do know the history and know to be careful.  We don't take sides.  We try not to favor either party.  Since the top two party colors are white and purple, we don't wear those colors during election week.  While it might seem fun to join a parade, we don't.  We stay away.  And we seek the advice of our Dominican friends.  They tell us, the night of election day and the days following are times to stay home.  That is our plan for this year.

We have Dominican friends who support Hipólito and others who support Danilo.  We enjoy learning from them, their thoughts about the country and it's needs.  Like most elections, both candidates promise change and improvement.  Their methods to bring change may differ, but both talk about helping the poor, improving education and decreasing government corruption.  It's just a question if who you trust and which method you agree with.

We know from Scripture that God is in control (Rom. 13:1-7, I Peter 2:13-17).  These are challenging passages when you look through history at some of the leaders that have had power around the world.  Thankfully, we have examples from people like Ester, Daniel, Paul, and others.  These examples can help guide us.

Please be in prayer for this country.  Saturday, May 19, has been designated the National Day of Prayer by the Dominican Conference of Bishops.  Nationwide, people will be praying for an election day that is peaceful.  We invite you to join us.