NewsWhore
04-20-2006, 04:10 PM
Most Dominicans of voting age (80.4%) are against Congress modifying the Constitution again so that former President Hipolito Mejia can run for President in the 2008 election, according to the Gallup-Hoy newspaper poll carried out in the first week of April. Only 17% of voters are in favor of Mejia running as a Presidential candidate again in the 2008 presidential election. During his term as President, 2000-2004, Mejia fostered a change in the constitution that eliminated the ban on re-election. Nevertheless, the reform included a provision that does not allow the candidate who opts for re-election and then loses, to run for President ever again. The July 2002 Constitution revoked the disposition that banned re-election, but at the same time established that a President could only run for re-election once. Mejia ran for re-election in 2004 and lost to current President Leonel Fernandez who in turn had not been able to run for re-election after his term in 2000 because the previous 1994 Constitution banned this.
Listin Diario political analyst Orlando Gil, in his column in the Listin Diario yesterday, had highlighted that many campaigns by candidates belonging to the so-called Pink Alliance (sectors of the PRD and PRSC) are being funded by the former President, and that Mejia is active in campaigning alongside the candidates nationwide. Furthermore, Gil points out that Mejia is also funding the polls. PRD-PRSC candidates are using his polls, and thus saving on that chapter, also, observes Gil.
"Hipolito Mejia has it clear that without 2006, there is no possibility of 2008, and thus he has taken upon himself to ensure that the PRD keeps its majority in Congress and that senators and deputies who win owe allegiance to his political interests," explains Gil. "Mejia is courting PRSC candidates with the same dedication as those of the white party. And what is interesting is that he is getting a good response.... If the Reformistas depend now on the PRD to win positions in Congress and the municipalities, in the Presidential election they should return the favor, as Machiavelli teaches," comments Gil.
But he also warns that this strategy that alienates other groups within the party didn't work for Juan Bosch, who had to leave the PRD to form another party, nor for Salvador Jorge Blanco, who faced stringent opposition within the party from Jacobo Majluta. He attributes the Mejia group's dominance within the PRD to the lack of capacity and incompetence of his rival groups in the party.
Some 2,300 Congressional candidates and 12,200 municipal candidates are opting for the 32 Senator seats and 178 deputy seats, as well as the 151 mayor positions and 963 aldermen and substitutes posts.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
Listin Diario political analyst Orlando Gil, in his column in the Listin Diario yesterday, had highlighted that many campaigns by candidates belonging to the so-called Pink Alliance (sectors of the PRD and PRSC) are being funded by the former President, and that Mejia is active in campaigning alongside the candidates nationwide. Furthermore, Gil points out that Mejia is also funding the polls. PRD-PRSC candidates are using his polls, and thus saving on that chapter, also, observes Gil.
"Hipolito Mejia has it clear that without 2006, there is no possibility of 2008, and thus he has taken upon himself to ensure that the PRD keeps its majority in Congress and that senators and deputies who win owe allegiance to his political interests," explains Gil. "Mejia is courting PRSC candidates with the same dedication as those of the white party. And what is interesting is that he is getting a good response.... If the Reformistas depend now on the PRD to win positions in Congress and the municipalities, in the Presidential election they should return the favor, as Machiavelli teaches," comments Gil.
But he also warns that this strategy that alienates other groups within the party didn't work for Juan Bosch, who had to leave the PRD to form another party, nor for Salvador Jorge Blanco, who faced stringent opposition within the party from Jacobo Majluta. He attributes the Mejia group's dominance within the PRD to the lack of capacity and incompetence of his rival groups in the party.
Some 2,300 Congressional candidates and 12,200 municipal candidates are opting for the 32 Senator seats and 178 deputy seats, as well as the 151 mayor positions and 963 aldermen and substitutes posts.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)