Dominican diaspora sees Paterson mayoral win and NYC consulate fee scandal

Andre Sayegh declared himself the winner of the Paterson, New Jersey mayoral election held on Tuesday. Out of 19,321 votes cast, Sayegh received 6,439 votes (33.33%). The closest challenger was Dominican Alex Méndez, who earned 5,826 votes (30.15%). Other candidates were Michael Jackson with 5,046 votes and Mohammed Akhtaruzzaman with 1,954 votes. The results are still pending final counts of provisional and mail ballots. Paterson is noted for its ethnic diversity, listing more than 52 documented groups, with Hispanics—especially Dominicans—forming the largest community.

In New York City, Dominican residents of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx expressed alarm after the Force of the People party (FP‑NY) filed a complaint alleging excessive and undocumented charges at the Dominican consulate. The party pointed to a $100 computerized fee for consular powers plus an additional $60 manual fee, a $10 increase for dual‑citizenship applications, $20 for route letters, up to $60 for VIP travel permits for minors, $1 per photocopy, $30 for external passport processing, and an automatic $25 ID‑consular package added without clear notice. The accusers called on President Luis Abinader to intervene and launch a thorough investigation, asking, “Why are manual charges applied outside the official system?”