NewsWhore
03-09-2011, 03:50 PM
Writing in today's Hoy newspaper, sociologist and political analyst Rosario Espinal suggests that former President Hipolito Mejia's defeat of his rival Miguel Vargas Maldonado for the PRD candidacy into the 2012 presidential election was more the result of political errors by Vargas Maldonado than an indication of Mejia's strengths.
She makes the point that Vargas changed the party's traditional populism and liberalism for a corporate-conservative stand. She analyzes the way in which the high level of support for Vargas' presidential candidacy in 2008 and for the party presidency in 2009 reflected the lack of options rather than any real leadership. She highlights the major error of validating the constitutional reform that delivered to President Leonel Fernandez what he sought: the removal of the ban on his being President again. She speculates that Fernandez chose Vargas as the man with whom to negotiate the constitutional reform. "Behind the strategy was that by taking on the presidency of the PRD, Vargas would not have the shadow of Hipolito Mejia, nor of the historic leaders of the party and he could dominate the party structure without major difficulties," she writes.
"The Miguel-Leonel constitutional pact symbolized the imbecility of that political strategy. Instead of using the constitutional reform to push forward a democratic project in tune with the social democratic legacy of Jose F. Pena Gomez, Miguel Vargas reaffirmed his corporate-conservative project," she states.
She mentions that he ordered his party members to vote in favor of Art. 30 (the anti-abortion clause). "But also, and above all as turned out a negative for Vargas, the pact included the elimination of the 'never again' clause for re-election, the main reason why Fernandez had promoted constitutional reform. Thus, Vargas, stuck a double-edged sword into his own back: he opened the way for two of his main opponents, Fernandez and Mejia, to get back into the fray."
She comments that under Vargas' party leadership, the PRD lost the 2010 election without obtaining a single senate seat, and adds that the PRD did not engage in any active opposition to the government. "The Vargas team objective was to return to power with the support of the conservative sectors behind Fernandez.
Espinal believes that the PLD will now have a true opponent. "For 2012 we will have to see if the bad memories of Mejia's government will prevail among the general public, or whether they will embrace the new populist illusion that the "Dad has Arrived" slogan invokes."
http://rosarioespinal.wordpress.com/
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
She makes the point that Vargas changed the party's traditional populism and liberalism for a corporate-conservative stand. She analyzes the way in which the high level of support for Vargas' presidential candidacy in 2008 and for the party presidency in 2009 reflected the lack of options rather than any real leadership. She highlights the major error of validating the constitutional reform that delivered to President Leonel Fernandez what he sought: the removal of the ban on his being President again. She speculates that Fernandez chose Vargas as the man with whom to negotiate the constitutional reform. "Behind the strategy was that by taking on the presidency of the PRD, Vargas would not have the shadow of Hipolito Mejia, nor of the historic leaders of the party and he could dominate the party structure without major difficulties," she writes.
"The Miguel-Leonel constitutional pact symbolized the imbecility of that political strategy. Instead of using the constitutional reform to push forward a democratic project in tune with the social democratic legacy of Jose F. Pena Gomez, Miguel Vargas reaffirmed his corporate-conservative project," she states.
She mentions that he ordered his party members to vote in favor of Art. 30 (the anti-abortion clause). "But also, and above all as turned out a negative for Vargas, the pact included the elimination of the 'never again' clause for re-election, the main reason why Fernandez had promoted constitutional reform. Thus, Vargas, stuck a double-edged sword into his own back: he opened the way for two of his main opponents, Fernandez and Mejia, to get back into the fray."
She comments that under Vargas' party leadership, the PRD lost the 2010 election without obtaining a single senate seat, and adds that the PRD did not engage in any active opposition to the government. "The Vargas team objective was to return to power with the support of the conservative sectors behind Fernandez.
Espinal believes that the PLD will now have a true opponent. "For 2012 we will have to see if the bad memories of Mejia's government will prevail among the general public, or whether they will embrace the new populist illusion that the "Dad has Arrived" slogan invokes."
http://rosarioespinal.wordpress.com/
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)