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Santo Domingo.– The Central Electoral Board (JCE) will have to assign RD$1.0 billion in order to hold the primaries of the parties since they all have to be held the same day, in correspondance with the Law on Political Parties.

JCE president Julio Cesar Castaños Guzman said yesterday that if the JCE asked for RD$747 million in 2004, "it cannot be less in 2009 as we now have more than 4,000 polling stations, and we need a president, a secretary and a member at each one."

Castaños added that they will need some 11,000 people to work on the primary day, both in the operation itself and in supervision.

Rafael Calderon, the president of the commission of deputies that is studying the proposal of the Law of Groups and Political Parties, said the funds for the primaries have to come from the JCE budget..

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COMMENTS
10 comment(s)
Written by: glomarexplorer, 25 Aug 2009 12:47 PM
From: United States, Fresh Water Paradise-NY Finger Lakes
A necessary evil of our political process as a republic.

Question is: can we afford it? And are there methods to streamline it, reduce cost.

We are an underdeveloped country with many associated problems, not the least of which being lack of adequate education and job opportunities. Perhaps some of this money could best be used to enhance those areas.
Written by: DomVilla, 25 Aug 2009 12:48 PM
From: United States, Maryland
waste of People money, DR is crazy, What the reason DR do not emulate the case of Cuba, they do not have that game of Democracy and every penny is spend more wise, we as nation have a long way to go. Juan Bosh at one time understand Election is a way to certify the system.
Written by: glomarexplorer, 25 Aug 2009 12:56 PM
From: United States, Fresh Water Paradise-NY Finger Lakes
Dom,

With all due respect, I don't believe Cuba represents good example.
Written by: gmiller261, 25 Aug 2009 1:40 PM
From: United States

There is NO money.
Written by: juanb, 25 Aug 2009 2:12 PM
From: Dominican Republic
There is no money and they don't care. Lets do the math....1,000,000,000 divided by 4000 polling stations equals 250,000 per polling station. Even better, however is the claim that there will be 11,000 people working. That works out to more than 90,000 per employee. Not a bad pay for one or two days of work.

Stop wasting MY money!!!
Written by: Adrian29630, 25 Aug 2009 2:45 PM
From: Dominican Republic, Cabrera
Oh dear! Once again it seems people in responsible positions in DR cannot do simple maths. If there are 4000 plus polling stations needing 3 people to man them then when I went to school a long time ago 4000 x 3 = 12000 and that is not including supervisors etc or how many above 4000 polloing stations there actually will be. No wonder the finances in DR are in a mess!

I fairness though I assume the cost quoted includes all the pre-election preparation, printing ballot papers, delivery to the stations, transport, may be cost of hiring premises, after poll counters etc so tojust base it on employee costs for one or two days is unrealistic.
Written by: RobertoJose, 25 Aug 2009 10:27 PM
From: United States, FREEPORT, Long Island.... (Look, beyond the words)

Isn't there monies left over from the 165mil USD Leo borrow to build the 6 overpaths

I wouldn't give up the money just like that . I rather start a payroll....
Written by: juanb, 26 Aug 2009 7:35 AM
From: Dominican Republic
If this outrageous waste of money also includes the cost of campaigning it is still way too much to spend on our "beauty contest" style. This is just a way to litter the countryside with pictures of candidates, and we get to decide who to vote for by choosing the prettiest face or listening to who is offering the most gifts to us.

I always love a campaign where the candidate offers us 500RD and a chicken. Now that is a candidate with a vision.
Written by: CarlosFranco, 26 Aug 2009 10:53 AM
From: United States, Brooklyn

We need to be more reliant on the modern techonology to reduce extravagant cost that are necessary...
Written by: cejay, 26 Aug 2009 12:12 PM
From: United States, A beautiful Location
Just don't give the billion to any bankers in Santo Domingo or they will steal it!!! lol lol OH WAIT, they are all in jail in najaya!!!!
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