{"id":512215,"date":"2026-06-23T23:01:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T03:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/alofoke-and-politics-when-the-people-are-choosing-even-if-the-polls-havent-spoken\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:01:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T03:01:50","slug":"alofoke-and-politics-when-the-people-are-choosing-even-if-the-polls-havent-spoken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/alofoke-and-politics-when-the-people-are-choosing-even-if-the-polls-havent-spoken\/","title":{"rendered":"“Alofoke and politics: when the people are choosing, even if the polls haven’t spoken”"},"content":{"rendered":"“n

There is a phenomenon that the Dominican political class has spent years refusing to understand: that power is not always exercised from a seat, sometimes it is exercised from a microphone and in the Dominican Republic, that microphone already has a name: Santiago Mat\u00edas, Alofoke.<\/strong><\/p>n”\n\n“n

According to my own artificial intelligence analysis applied to digital media, social networks, and the national press, Alofoke is the most mentioned name in the Dominican Republic in 2025, surpassing politicians, athletes, and businesspeople. This is not entertainment data; it is data that turns into power, and power, when ignored, does not disappear… IT ACCUMULATES.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

Santiago Mat\u00edas had said unequivocally that he does not aspire to the presidency (although personally I tell you…DOUBT IT), I assure you that from this moment on he will play a decisive role in the upcoming elections, particularly by mobilizing the youth segment that historically shows low participation in national elections.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

This deserves to be read carefully, because what he is describing to them is not a campaign plan, it is an architecture of influence that no Dominican political party has managed to build in a generation.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

As a psychiatrist, the last thing I am interested in is the debate over whether Alofoke “deserves” to enter politics or not; what interests me most as a student of politics is his phenomenon, which reveals how the collective psychology of Dominicans manifests itself. A society that turns a man from Capotillo into the most influential figure in the country is not being superficial; it is looking for something that traditional politics has not given it: authenticity, accessibility, and the feeling that the person speaking knows the reality of those at the bottom.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

Now let’s show the shame of the 2024 numbers<\/strong><\/p>n”\n\n“n

In the presidential elections of May 19, 2024, out of 8 million 145 thousand 548 citizens eligible to vote, 45.6% did not show up to cast their vote<\/strong>, the highest abstention rate recorded in the last eight electoral processes. In the municipal elections of February of that same year, that number exceeded 70% according to the first bulletins from the Central Electoral Board. Our presidential winner obtained the effective support of approximately 30% of the eligible voters.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

In other words: the president of all Dominicans was elected by less than one out of every three Dominicans eligible to vote.<\/strong><\/p>n”\n\n“n

But there is one fact that the Dominican political class should tattoo on themselves: young people represent between 35 and 40% of the electoral roll and show the highest rates of abstention, directly linked to unemployment, precariousness, and institutional distrust. They are the silent majority. And they are exactly the primary audience of Alofoke.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

The 2024 elections saw the greatest peak of young voters between 18 and 45 years old, with a 56.5% turnout in that segment. In contrast, older adults participated the least, with just a little over 1.5%. This reveals something crucial: young people are the largest group of voters, but the majority, if we were to speak today, have not found a sufficient reason to go to the polls, and Alofoke speaks this language, their language, better than any traditional politician.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

That accumulated disappointment and hopelessness that I have spoken about for a long time is the true breeding ground for this phenomenon. IT IS NOT COINCIDENCE, IT IS CAUSALITY.<\/strong><\/p>n”\n\n“n

Traditional parties continue to operate with the logic of the last century: closed leadership circles, hand-picked candidates, and speeches manufactured to win votes that are forgotten the day after the election. Meanwhile, an entire generation of Dominicans has grown up watching how their leaders get rich, how impunity becomes institutionalized, and how the same faces rotate through the same positions without anything fundamentally changing. Faced with lower participation, parties intensify strategies to secure a vote, perpetuating exactly the cycle that drives citizens away from the polls.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

The trend is not new either: abstention has grown steadily; in the year 2000 it was 23.86%, in 2020 it was 44.71%, and in 2024 a massive 45.63%. The apathy every four years has shown that more Dominicans decide that none of the options deserve their time. That is not indifference, it is a verdict, even more so in the current generation.<\/u><\/em><\/p>n”\n\n“n

Youth are the ones who have the tools to transform the way politics is done, how people participate, and how they influence change. But for that to happen, someone has to speak to them in their own language. And until now, traditional politics has systematically failed in that attempt.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

The United States ambassador to the Dominican Republic herself has pointed out that behind Alofoke’s public image, there is a depth and a commitment to his country that many people do not perceive. When American diplomacy notices that, the Dominican political class is obligated to pay attention.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

The PRSC has already formally opened its doors to the possibility of Mat\u00edas seeking the presidency in 2028. But beyond party strategies, the question that really matters is another: what is our democracy telling us when a figure without an office is heard more than the majority of those who actually hold one?<\/p>n”\n\n“n

The fact that Alofoke publicly reported threats the same week his name was circulating on campaign posters is no minor coincidence. It is the clearest sign that someone, somewhere in the established power, feels that this man from Capotillo represents a real threat. And it is well known to politicians that what threatens the established power, in a healthy democracy, is usually exactly what the people need.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

My role at this moment is to read the social signs for you, it is part of my craft.<\/p>n”\n\n“n

The question is not whether Santiago Matias should enter politics or not, the question is: is Dominican politics ready for a man who no longer needs to ask anyone for permission to be heard?<\/strong><\/p>n”\n\n“n

And if the response of traditional structures to that question is intimidation and silence, then we already have the diagnosis. And the prognosis is not favorable for them.<\/p>n”","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“n There is a phenomenon that the Dominican political class has spent years refusing to understand: that power is not always exercised from a seat, sometimes it is exercised from a microphone and in the Dominican Republic, that microphone already has a name: Santiago Mat\u00edas, Alofoke. n” “n According to my own artificial intelligence analysis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133543,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-512215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-29fx","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","dum_api":{"author_name":"Carolina \u00c1lvarez","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-26-at-5.31.57-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["Uncategorized"],"featured_media_url":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}