How the Salchicha is Made

Now that elections in the DR have passed, I think it is safe to talk some about politics here. Not that I can say that much about them: Peace Corps volunteers are deliberately apolitical. I certainly have political opinions but it is inappropriate for me to share them here or anywhere else during my service. They would only get in the way. But I think there is no harm in describing how the democratic process works here - to the extent that I understand it.

On 15 de Mayo 2016 Danilo Medina, the sitting president of the Dominican Republic, was re-elected with 60% of the popular vote. This gave him a margin of 25 points over his nearest challenger, Luis Abinader, in the most crushing defeat in the history of Dominican democracy.

Danilo is a member of the PLD and Abinader the PRM. The remaining 5% of the vote was split between 6 other minority partidos. The biggest winner of these was the Alianza Pais with 2.5% of the presidential vote. In the American two party system we would call these "third parties" but this would be a total misnomer here. The minority partidos are more than three. They are more than 6 actually. All told, there are 32 registered partidos in the Dominican Republic and 26 of them matter enough to be included on the ballot.

Why, you ask, if there are 26 partidos were there only 8 presidential candidates? Well, there were more candidates initially but they dropped out when their partidos formed alianzas with either the PLD or PRM. On the surface the Dominican process looks a lot like the US: direct democracy, bicameral legislature, etc. The key difference is alianzas and the difference they make is huge.

Using an example from US politics, let's turn back time to the 1992 presidential election. Many believe that Bill Clinton was elected because Ross Perot, a "third party" candidate, cost George HW Bush crucial votes. This was exactly what the Republicans worried would happen. But imagine: what if, instead of saying "well, it's a two-party system and there's nothing we can do," the Republicans had signed a preemptive powersharing agreement with Perot's Reform Party? In exchange for dropping their presidential spoiler the Reform Party would receive guaranteed appointments for non-elected positions and support in some local elections. This would help the Republicans retain power by guaranteeing them the presidency and would help build the Reform Party from an upstart operation into a real party with office holders spread throughout the country. The parties could even campaign together!

In the DR this happens all the time. It is the bread and butter (or, better put, the beans and rice) of Dominican politics. This is why there were only 8 presidential candidates on the ballot. All of the remaining 18 "major minority" partidos formed alianzas with either the PLD or PRM. This is why Danilo, the most popular presidential candidate in the history of his country, appeared side-by-side on posters for candidates of the BIS, a minority Socialist party that took in less than 100,000 votes nationwide.

Sure, the BIS won't win the presidency without a candidate, but it's not like they really had a chance at that office anyhow. Significant local wins can help BIS establish a stronghold in certain parts of the country. This can be expanded upon over time and suddenly your minority partido isn't so minor anymore. That's exactly what happened with the PLD. PLD is currently the majority partido in Dominican politics. One of the 18 parties they allied with was the PRD, which used to be the majority partido. In fact, the PLD began life as an offshoot of the PRD!

So that's how the sausage is made at the levels of the partidos. But what does it mean for citizens? Like Americans, Dominicans grumble about how their politicians are all crooks, but to judge by voter turnout they are far less jaded than we are. This years election had over 70% voter turnout. I imagine it's because Dominicans can vote their conscience with the party of their choice without feeling they are "throwing their vote away" on a candidate who will never win.

The Dominican enthusiam for democracy is apparent not only in the polling place. Unlike the US where campaigns are mostly media affairs, Dominicans campaign vigously in the streets. Each of the 26 partidos has their colores and groups of suppoters regularly parade the streets in matching outfits, shaking hands and going door to door. This do this for months on end. I have been in here less than 3 months and not a week has gone by that I haven't encountered a parade or manifestacion of some kind, even when I was in a small town of less than a thousand people. It is exactly the kind of rowdy, participatory democracy that I have read that the US used to have.

Of course, there is a dark side. This year's election was notable not only for it's surprisingly decisive presidential victory but also for it's orderliness. At the church I attended during CBT the priest implored from the pulpit against violence on election day. Like Americans at sporting events, sometimes the excitement gets out of hand. Cheers for your team turn to jeers for the other. Rough words and blows are exchanged. Sometimes people die. In previous years, Peace Corps issued security alerts for volunteers to stay in their homes on election day.

But not this year. I was able to walk the streets of the small town where I now live and feel safe as I shared in the exictement. It was truly something to see.

Final note: Since my last entry my wife and I have been quite busy! We have received our site assignment, visited it for a few days, returned to the capital to complete training, and have moved permanently to our new site in the northern reach of the province Elias Piña where we live with a new host family.

I have a lot to write about! But I need time to process things. I'll post here when I have understood enough to have something intelligent to say.