Election Day

[patrickbc]

Hello all, and thanks for reading and responding, I hope this is the appropriate forum for this thread. I'm an American about to embark on a month-long visit, my first, to the DR, and by chance will be landing in Santo Domingo on May 14, just two days before the presidential elections. A couple of my Dominican friends here in New York have told me that the capital (maybe the whole country?) will be very quiet during and perhaps also the couple of days after the election, and have suggested I consider postponing my trip for a week or so. I don't want to do this--it strikes me that it will be exciting and interesting to be there for the election--but what I can't tell is if my friends think I will be bored because the city has shut down (again, I doubt this), or that I will be a nuisance to have around (I was going to spend my first couple of days with the (Dominican) cousin of a friend of mine), or if they think this is a dicey time for an American with no knowledge of the country and mediocre Spanish to be around. (I figure I can always take a room in a nicer hotel for a couple of days and cling to the tourist track, but maybe I'm wrong...)

Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice, on whether or not I should change my ticket (I think I can do this for $50US, but really would rather not), and on dos and don'ts for a foreigner in Santo Domingo on/around election day. Also, if anyone has the time to write a little bit about what the couple of days before and after will be like, I'd be thrilled to hear about it, and think it would be interesting reading, for me, and other initiates as well.

Thanks again,

Patrick

[ExtremeR]

It is indeed a boring time for you to be here, everything is slow, people prefer to stay home in that day, well the 16th people will go to the streets to celebrate the winner likely to be Leonel the actual President. I agree with your Dominicans friends that you would be better waiting off a week to come.

[Dolores]

Come down and relax. I would definitely not cancel. If you are staying with your cousin, and don't mind tagging along to listen to politics, and the expectation of whether Fernandez will win in a first round or not... Definitely, from what you describe, I would not cancel. Everything will be open on the 14th and 15th, while the 16th will be more a family day, but then family and friends will get together for that sancocho as they await the results and to find out whether the scanners will do their stuff (helping to vote count quickly). If the scanners work, then it's back to usual on the 17th. With so many people now added on to government, there should be many parties out there. Others may even celebrate not having to drag the campaign out for the second run in June.