Spanish
Santo Domingo.- The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) halted the plans of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) to advance the selection of its presidential candidate for the 2028 elections. The high court accepted an appeal submitted by PLD leader Eleuterio Abad Santos, who questioned the legality of the convocation.
The PLD planned to hold an internal consultation in the first quarter of 2026 to pre-select its presidential candidate, with a view to formally proclaiming him in 2027. However, the TSE considered that this process violates the Constitution, the Law of Parties and the Electoral Regime Law.
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The ruling also orders the provisional suspension of the meeting of the PLD Central Committee scheduled for June 8, at which the pre-candidates who would participate in the internal contest would be defined. In addition, it paralyzes all acts related to that process.
The Political Committee had given the green light to the consultation last March, which reactivated internal aspirations, especially those of Francisco Javier García, who was very active in the party's grassroots. However, other potential candidates such as Abel Martínez, Francisco Domínguez Brito and Juan Ariel Jiménez have not yet reached a consensus on the selection method.
Abad Santos alleged that the consultation was “illegal and illegitimate,” and his claim was supported by the TSE, which now obliges the PLD to rethink its route towards the presidential elections.
