DR2028 analytical summary. This is a research brief prepared by the DR2028 movement summarizing a real Dominican statute. It is not an official government publication. For the authoritative text, consult the Gaceta Oficial.
Law No. 20-23 — Organic Law of the Electoral Regime
Promulgated on February 17, 2023 by President Luis Abinader, Law 20-23 replaced the previous electoral framework (Law 15-19, as amended). Its stated object is to regulate the exercise of citizenship — the right to elect and to be elected — and the procedure and development of electoral processes for the Executive, the Legislature, and municipal authorities.
The electoral authority
The law confirms the Junta Central Electoral (JCE) as the maximum body responsible for organizing elections, and grants it regulatory power to issue the rules needed to run them — including a 180-day window after the law's entry into force to publish its application regulations. It also provides for automated counting (escrutinio automatizado): the digitization, scanning, and transmission of results from voting stations to processing centers, designed to be reliable, accessible, verifiable, and auditable.
Electoral crimes and integrity
Law 20-23 introduced a new infraction into Dominican legislation: crimes against the integrity of elections, punishable by up to 10 years of prison. The JCE may suspend elections and call extraordinary ones in cases of force majeure, fortuitous events, or other duly justified circumstances.
Campaign rules citizens should know
- Article 177: campaign activity — including in the media — must end at midnight on the Thursday before election day.
- Article 216: publication of polls is prohibited in the 8 days before voting (exit polls may be conducted but not disclosed until 3 hours before polls close).
- Article 232: sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited from 7:00 a.m. the day before voting until 7:00 a.m. the day after.
- Article 210 (paragraph 6): inaugurations of public works by the central government and mayoralties are prohibited during the 40 days before municipal elections and the 60 days before presidential/congressional elections.
The Electoral Superior Tribunal (TSE)
The law expanded the jurisdiction of the Tribunal Superior Electoral: it hears challenges to election results (irregularities, fraud, violations), registers and supervises political parties, resolves internal party conflicts, sanctions parties and candidates, hears electoral amparo claims from citizens defending their political rights, and oversees campaign finance. The law also sets a framework for independent candidacies, requiring a defined leadership organization and a governing program.
DR2028 relevance
DR2028's democratic and electoral modernization decrees are drafted against this law's architecture — its JCE/TSE division of labor, its integrity crimes, and its campaign-finance oversight are the enforcement rails our government-restructuring and anti-corruption proposals plug into. Where the law's application has been contested (including constitutional challenges to specific articles), DR2028 tracks the outcomes in Module 3.