With presidential and congressional elections scheduled to take place on July 5, 2020,[1] the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina Sánchez, announced last Sunday May 17, 2020, a set of measures for a staged reopening of the Dominican economy. This raises the question of what happens if these reopening measures result in drastic spikes of new COVID-19 cases and the elections are therefore not held on July 5, 2020.
There is a lot riding on this question as any postponement of the elections beyond the August 16 constitutional end-date of the terms of the President, Vice President and 222 legislators could result in a political, institutional and constitutional crisis. This in turn could deal a serious blow to the country’s democratic system, rule of law, and business and investment climate.