Events that marked the political events in Quisqueya in 2020 and presage 2021 | The State

When we speak of events, we refer to issues that do not occur frequently or very often, which due to their impact, be it social, individual, local or global, modify reality at a certain moment with consequences in the medium or long term. The history of humanity has been marked by great events at all levels that changed its course, events such as; the French Revolution, the arrival of man on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the September 11 attack, among others.

Other events in which the man himself has not had a direct intervention, but that could be a consequence of many of his actions, include the earthquake / tsunami in Japan in 2011, most recently the appearance of the Coronavirus, generating in the world a radical change in what we knew as everyday life, and a long list of events that, probably thanks to them, humanity has managed to take significant steps forward in the various fields of knowledge.

At the local level, the Dominican Republic has been marked by political events worth mentioning, since achieving its independence in 1844, to have several dictatorial governments, with a transition to democracy in the recent past with the overthrow of Trujillo (1961), giving way to the first democratically elected government in 1962, with the assumption of power by Juan Bosch (overthrown 7 months later). On the other side of the island, in Haiti, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the neighboring country, signifying a radical change to its situation for the next two decades.

The year just ended (2020), has left its milestones in the land of merengue, bachata and the most beautiful beaches. I wanted to stop and analyze each and every one of the events that, from my point of view, have had the greatest impact on the Dominican population politically speaking, I decided among many, eight (8) events:

• Postponement of municipal elections, endangering Dominican democracy and questioning the credibility of the electoral body. This generated large demonstrations calling for the resignation of the members of this body.
• The holding of elections in a pandemic due to the coronavirus, a situation used by the PLD to try to position its candidate during the campaign. In the end, “the shot backfired.”
• The defeat in the presidential elections in July of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was an omen that began in February with the municipal elections and, consequently, their departure from power after 16 years in office. Generating this the stampede or the abandonment of the party of figures and congressman to pass to another political force.
• The arrival to the presidency of the Republic of Luis Abinader and the PRM, after several attempts and with their slogan “El Cambio” and “Se Van”, won the favor of the popular vote.
• The first “defeat” of former president Leonel Fernández, reaching a number of votes well below what he claimed to have (10%), even with those results they were left with considerable strength and representation at the congressional level for the not so distant future, managing to be the second majority. Here the phrase, “losing is won” fits very well.
• The submission of several former officials for alleged acts of corruption in the past administration with the named anti octopus operation. As a result of the appointment of an independent Public Ministry and why not, as a result of citizen pressure, former officials accused of association of criminals and embezzlement of funds to favor relatives and close associates of former President Danilo are managed to sit on the dock of the accused. Medina.
• The change in the way of doing politics, the arrival of the pandemic in the middle of the election year, forced political parties to adapt to a new way of campaigning without mass events, making social networks the new scenarios to promote their proposals for Bell.
• The resignation of an official of the current government accused of corruption. As an unprecedented event, the resignation of the youth minister was constituted, who probably, due to pressure from the population, was forced to resign from her position as a public official. With this action, he left the Dominican president in good standing, whose government’s commitment is not to allow a single act of indelication or contrary to the rules.

Eridania Bidó Fernández is co-founder and Executive Vice President of the Center for Public Policy, Development and RD Leadership (CPDL-RD). She has a Master’s Degree in Senior Public Management, is a Specialist in Public Function and Quality Management, Writer for Communicated Policy, and has more than 10 years of professional career at the public level. Bidó is also an International Election Observer for Latin America. Twitter @EridaniaBidoF