File No. 839.00/1560.
Commissioner Smith to
the Secretary of State.
[Extract]
Santo Domingo,
September 29, 1914.
Sir: I send you herewith an English
translation of the election decree and electoral law, which has only
just now been completed. Furthermore, copies of the English translation
will be mailed to you when ready. I am having them printed for the
convenience and instruction of the observers and others who may require
them.
I am writing this letter in the first person, as you doubtless know that
Mr. White is still in the Cibao, where, judging from his movements so
far and his plans so far as known, he is likely to remain for a
considerable time, unless previously recalled by you.
Respectfully [etc.]
For the Commission:
Ch. Cogswell Smith
.
[Inclosure—Translation.]
[Untitled]
whereas: Owing to the way in which the
present Executive Power was constituted in accordance with the
political agreement which put an end to the warfare, the Legislative
Power was virtually ignored, and the former was clothed with the
faculties indispensable for the formation of a regular Congress
which would scrutinize, sanction, and conclude the next election by
which the definite Government of the Republic is to replace the
present ad interim administration.
In virtue of the faculties with which I am invested I have issued the
following
decree.
Chapter I. Call for meeting of the primary
assemblies.
- Article 1. Meetings are called of the primary assemblies of
all the communes of the Republic, to be held on the 18th and
19th of next October for the purpose of electing the electoral
colleges.
- Article 2. The primary assemblies are composed of the male
Dominicans more than eighteen years of age and those who are
married or have been married, even
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though they have not reached said age.
There are barred those mentally unsound, or legally or
judicially incapacitated. There are likewise barred persons
belonging to the active army or to any body organized on
military lines, or to the police.
- Article 3. The number of electors who shall form the electoral
college in each province, in accordance with the distribution
established by the Constitution of 1907, adopted in that of
1908, shall be as follows:
- [Here follow tabulated statement of number of electors for the
several provinces; regulations concerning qualifications of
electors; registers of voting ballots; election boards;
electoral college; etc.]
