TITLE X. OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM
CHAPTER I. OF THE ELECTORAL ASSEMBLIES
Article 208. Exercise of suffrage
The exercise of suffrage to elect the authorities of government and to participate in referendums, is a right and a duty of the citizens [feminine] and of the citizens [masculine]. The vote is personal, free, direct and secret. Nobody can be obligated or coerced, under any pretext, in the exercise of their right of suffrage or to reveal their vote.
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The members of the Armed Forces and of the National Police, or those who have lost their rights of citizenship or are found suspended in regards to those rights, do not have the right of suffrage.
Article 209. Electoral assemblies
The electoral assemblies will function in electoral colleges that will be organized in accordance with the law. The electoral colleges will open every four years to elect the President or Vice-President of the Republic, the legislative representatives, the municipal authorities and the other elective functionaries or representatives. These elections will be celebrated in a separate and independent manner. Those for the president, vice-president and legislative and parliamentary representatives of international organs, on the third Sunday of the month of May, and those for municipal authorities, on the third Sunday of the month of February.
- When, in the elections celebrated to elect the President of the Republic and Vice-President, none of the candidatures obtains at least more than half of the votes validly emitted, a second election will be conducted on the last Sunday of the month of June of the same year. In this final election only the two candidatures that received the greatest number of votes will participate, and the candidature that obtains the greatest number of votes validly emitted will be considered as the winner.
- The elections will be celebrated in accordance with the law and with representation of the minorities when there are two or more candidates to be elected;
- In the cases of extraordinary convocation and referendum, the electoral assemblies will meet at the latest seventy days after the publication of the law of convocation. The election of authorities cannot coincide with the celebration of the referendum.
Article 210. Referendums
The popular consultations by means of a referendum will be regulated by a law that will determine all of what is relative to its celebration, in accordance with the following conditions:
- They cannot concern the approval or revocation of the mandate of any elected or appointed authority;
- They will require prior congressional approval with the vote of the two-thirds part of those present in each chamber.
CHAPTER II. OF THE ELECTORAL ORGANS
Article 211. Organization of the Elections
The elections will be organized, directed and supervised by the Central Electoral Board and the electoral boards under its dependency, which have the responsibility of guaranteeing the freedom, transparency, equality and objectivity of the elections.
SECTION I. OF THE CENTRAL ELECTORAL BOARD
Article 212. The Central Electoral Board
The Central Electoral Board is an autonomous organ with juridical personality and technical, administrative, budgetary and financial independence, with the main objective of organizing and directing the electoral assemblies for the celebration of the elections and of the mechanisms of popular participation established by this Constitution and the laws. It has a regulatory faculty in the matters of its competence.
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The Central Electoral Board will be integrated by a president and by four members and their substitutes, elected for a period of four years by the Senate of the Republic, with the vote of the two-thirds part of the senators present.
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The Civil Registry and the Identity and Electoral Card will de dependents of the Central Electoral Board.
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During the elections the Central Electoral Board will assume the direction and the mandate of the public force, in accordance with the law.
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The Central Electoral Board will see to it that the electoral processes are conducted subject to the principles of freedom and equality in the development of the campaigns, and transparency in the use of financing. In consequence, it will have the faculty to regulate the times and limits in the expenses of the campaign, as well as the equitable access to the means of communication.
Article 213. Electoral boards
In the National District and in each municipality there will be an Electoral Board with administrative and contentious functions. In administrative matters they will be subordinated to the Central Electoral Board. Within contentious matters their decisions are appealable before the Superior Electoral Tribunal, in accordance with the law.
SECTION II. OF THE SUPERIOR ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL
Article 214. The Superior Electoral tribunal
The Superior Electoral Tribunal is the organ competent to judge and decide with definitive character concerning the electoral disputes and also to decide concerning the disputes that arise within the political parties, groups and movements or between them. It will regulate, in accordance with the law, the procedures of its competence and all of what is relative to its organization and administrative and financial functioning.
Article 215. Integration
The Tribunal will be integrated by no less than three and no more than five electoral judges and their substitutes, who will be appointed for a period of four years by the National Council of the Magistrature, which will indicate who among them will occupy the presidency.
CHAPTER III. OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES
Article 216. The Political Parties
The organization of the political parties, groups and movements is free, subject to the principles established in this Constitution. Their conformation and functioning must be based in the respect for internal democracy and for transparency, in accordance with the law. Their essential goals are to:
- Guarantee the participation of citizens [masculine] and of citizens [feminine] in the political processes that contribute to the strengthening of democracy;
- Contribute, in equality of conditions, to the formation and manifestation of the will of the citizens, respecting political pluralism through the proposal of candidatures for the offices of popular election;
- Serve the national interest, the collective well being and the integral development of the Dominican society.
