Abel Martínez arrives in the presidential elections of the Dominican Republic on May 19 after a valued administration as mayor of the city that saw him grow, Santiago (second in the country), from 2016 to 2024, and with the view to the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) returning to power.

At 52 years old and with a long political career behind him after obtaining his law degree, Martínez has this goal for the LDP, a formation that ruled the country first from 1996 to 2000 and later between 2004 and 2020, when he lost the general elections in the midst of an internal division and serious accusations of corruption.

Although the LDP remains the second Dominican political force, Martínez’s candidacy is, according to the polls, in a distant third place, behind that of the current president of the country Luis Abinader, of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), who heads the polls on voting intention, and former President Leonel Fernández, of the People’s Force.

This lawyer, educator and politician has 25 years of experience. He began in 1999 with the position of prosecutor of Santiago and continued as a deputy for 14 years.

Martínez, the youngest of fifteen siblings, continued his promotion to all sectors of the politics of the Dominican Republic and, in 2010, began to hold the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, becoming the youngest of the holders of any Parliament on the continent at that time.

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He stood out for his role in legislative decisions such as the approval of laws that contribute to the strengthening of transparency in public administration and democracy, the Arms Control Law or the Civil Code.

In 2016, considered one of the most important politicians in his province, he accepted the position of mayor in Santiago. A city declared in a health and environmental emergency that during the eight years of his term (he was re-elected in 2020) has significantly improved its conditions.

In fact, in statements to EFE, he said that his eight years as a manager of the municipality turned Santiago, “which was a stray city” into “a model of municipal management.”

The experience and “those positive results” in 24 years of public service have led Martínez to aspire to the Presidency, “and more in the situation that is in the Dominican Republic, that he needs a manager, that he needs results, who needs action, but, above all, that he needs a concrete plan that is carried out, not beautiful words,” he added.

To achieve the transition from mayor to president of the Republic, Martínez elaborated a series of proposals with the objective of the LDP to regovern the country as it already did before its defeat in the hands of the PRM in 2020.

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The creation of three security rings to provide an immediate response to crime, the ‘Patria Segura’ program to control the border area with Haiti; the ‘Seed Capital’ plan, which would consist of giving incentives of 300,000 Dominican pesos to high school graduates for their university studies (about $5,000) or the ‘Zero Debt’ initiative, to eliminate loans to banking institutions, are some of his proposals.