Voting
According to the political analyst Bernardo Vega
According to the political analyst Bernardo Vega comments that Dominican expats changed their voting patterns in the 2012 presidential election. He says that in 2008 presidential election Dominicans abroad voted 60.6% in favor of the PLD, and 35.73% for the PRD and 2.41% for the PRSC, which had fielded its own candidate.
There was also a 49.56% abstention rate among expat Dominicans in 2008.
In the 2012 presidential election, the PLD vote was only 40.0%, with 45.6% for the PRD and 8% for the PRSC, which was backing the PLD candidate. Abstention increased from 49.56% to 58%, despite the election being held on a Sunday, instead of on a working day as in 2008.
Vega writes that the decisive vote in the overall expat vote count was in the US, where the Dominican Revolutionary Party received 48% of the vote.
Of 328,649 Dominicans registered to vote abroad, 129,359 actually did in the three circumscriptions – No. 1 (Canada, United States with the exception of Miami), No. 2 (Miami, Panama, Venezuela, Curacao, Aruba and the Virgin Islands), and No. 3 (Europe).
Dominican Republic Live, from Dominican Today, 23.05.12, 3.20pm
