Vote recount involving Dominican gay candidate underway

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A court on Thursday ordered a partial recount of votes in a municipality where results have been challenged by the Dominican Republic’s first openly gay person to run for Congress.

Officials expect to start a manual recount Friday of 30 per cent of votes cast in the populous municipality of Santo Domingo Oeste.

Deivis Ventura, the gay candidate who lost his congressional bid, had asked the court to annul the results and order new elections in the municipality over allegations that the process was flawed, in part because ballots were moved to several different locations.

The Elections Commission already annulled the results last week amid irregularities including that precincts did not report vote totals electronically as required.

The recount is not expected to change the outcomes of federal-level races.

Ventura, a 42-year-old former private school teacher, told The Associated Press that he was frustrated by the court’s decision ordering a recount rather than new elections.

“What that ruling does is validate the elections,” he said.

Ventura was one of six candidates of his party running for the Chamber of Deputies in the municipality. Voters in that area also chose one senator and one mayor.

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This story has been corrected to show that the court ordered a partial recount.