Dominican Republic’s electoral reforms face scrutiny through the lens of Pippa Norris’s electoral‑engineering research The Dominican Republic is set to reduce the size of its Chamber of Deputies from 190 to 170 seats in 2028 and to unify presidential, congressional and municipal elections on a single day in 2032. The reforms, announced on 27 October 2024, were justified on the grounds of budgetary savings and administrative efficiency, rather than on a formal electoral‑theory basis. The work of British political scientist Pippa Norris, whose 2004 book Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior and subsequent Electoral Integrity Project (established in 2012) have provided a comparative framework for assessing how electoral rules shape party behavior, representation and voter participation, offers a useful yardstick for evaluating the Dominican changes. ### Norris’s comparative framework Norris categorises electoral systems into three broad families: 1. Majoritarian – majority‑relative, two‑round or alternative‑vote systems that tend to produce single‑party governments, clear accountability and territorial representation. 2. Proportional – closed or open lists, single‑transferable vote or other mechanisms that aim to match seat shares to vote shares, encouraging party diversity, minority representation and higher female participation. 3. Mixed – combinations of the two approaches within the same legislature. She argues that no system simultaneously maximises all democratic values; the choice of rules reflects a prioritisation of certain outcomes over others. Her research also shows that preferential ballots, which allow voters to reorder party lists, can weaken party discipline and reduce the effectiveness of gender quotas that lack positional guarantees. ### The Dominican electoral system The Dominican Republic’s current system is a hybrid: Presidency – majority‑absolute with a second‑round runoff. Senate – 32 single‑member districts elected by majority‑relative vote. Chamber of Deputies – proportional representation in multi‑member districts of variable size, closed lists that are “unlocked” by preferential voting since 2002. Voting is voluntary; there is no compulsory turnout. The 2024 elections saw 52 women elected to the Chamber (≈ 27 % of seats) and only four women in the 32‑seat Senate, illustrating the gender‑quota challenge in a preferential‑ballot context. The 2024 gender‑quota law requires 40–60 % representation of each sex on party lists but does not mandate the placement of women in winnable positions, a limitation identified by Norris. ### Impact of the reforms 1. Reduction of the Chamber – The 2028 reduction will lower the magnitude of several multi‑member districts. Norris’s work indicates that smaller district magnitudes raise effective thresholds, disadvantaging smaller parties and reducing opportunities for women and other minorities. 2. Unification of elections – Holding all elections on the same day in 2032 is expected to increase turnout, as less frequent elections correlate with higher participation. However, the presidential race may dominate the agenda, potentially diminishing the visibility of municipal issues that were previously contested separately. 3. Preferential ballots – The continued use of preferential voting encourages individual candidate campaigns and can dilute party cohesion. It also weakens the impact of gender quotas that lack positional guarantees. 4. Electoral integrity – The Electoral Integrity Project’s Perceptions of Electoral Integrity (PEI) index shows the Dominican Republic’s score rising from 28 to 36 between 2020 and 2024, placing it among the region’s best performers. The index highlights that most failures occur before the voting day, especially in campaign financing and media access, and that the administrative capacity of the electoral body is as important as its formal independence. ### Lessons for the Dominican context Norris’s research does not prescribe a specific design for the Dominican reforms; rather, it offers criteria for assessing their likely consequences. The key take‑aways are: Electoral rules distribute advantages and costs among different actors; the choice of system reflects a political prioritisation of values. Preferential ballots can erode party discipline and reduce the effectiveness of gender quotas unless positional guarantees are added. Reducing district magnitude will likely raise thresholds, harming smaller parties and women’s representation. Unifying elections may boost turnout but risks marginalising local issues. The reforms, driven by fiscal and administrative motives, must therefore be examined through these lenses to anticipate their impact on representation, party dynamics and electoral integrity.
Article source: El Nuevo Diario | Image credit: El Nuevo Diario