The main candidates for the Presidency of the Dominican Republic in the elections on May 19, including President Luis Abinader, participate this Wednesday, April 24, in a debate organized by the Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE) and to which only the candidates from majority political formations. The organizers described the debate as “historic” because it is the first time that a sitting president participates.
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Dominicans will go to the polls on May 19, for the second time this year after the municipal elections in February, in which the ruling party obtained the majority of the mayoralties.
This Wednesday, April 24, the main candidates for the Presidency of the Dominican Republic attend a debate that the organizer, the Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE), described as “a historical milestone for the country's democracy and a change in political culture.” during the electoral campaigns, since it will be the first time that a sitting president participates in a debate in front of the citizens.
This will mark, the association stated, “a before and after” for the next elections on May 19, when senators and deputies will also be elected.
President Luis Abinader, 56, who aspires to a second and final term and is the favorite in all independent polls, will have a face-to-face meeting with Leonel Fernández, 70, who has governed the Dominican Republic three times. along with Abel Martínez, 52 years oldwho precisely that Wednesday leaves the Mayor's Office of Santiago (north), the second most important city in the country.
Abinader is the first president who, in the process of seeking re-election, participates in a debate, as he himself said when accepting the invitation to the meeting, which keeps the population expectant.
Leonel Fernández, from Fuerza del Pueblo, and Martínez, from the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), also confirmed their participation in this event.
It will be “a debate of democracy against moneyocracy,” said Fernández, who after governing the country from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012 with the PLD, ran in the 2020 elections with the Fuerza del Pueblo, coming in third place. .
The former governor, whom polls place in second place, but quite far from Abinader, has said that since he was a presidential candidate for the first time, in 1996, he proposed holding a debate, but so far it has not been organized, for what tomorrow “is history.”
If a second round is necessary to elect the next president of the country, it will take place on June 30, according to the calendar of the Central Electoral Board (JCE).
With EFE
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