President of the PRM said that projections indicate that Abinader will be re-elected with a similar percentage to 2020, of 52%
The president of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) and administrative minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, assured that his party and President Luis Abinader will achieve electoral victory in the first round of the 2024 elections with a percentage similar to that obtained in 2020 In those elections, the official party and Abinader achieved 52.52% of the votes cast.
“We won without problems in the first round, even the party has a similar value to the vote it obtained in July 2020,” he commented. The political leader before that statement had said that neither his party nor the government had discussed modifying the Constitution to reduce the 50 + 1 that is needed to win the presidency of the Republic in the first round.
“The 50+1 system, in which six or seven presidential processes have been held, there has only been one double-round scenario, all the other processes have been decided in the first electoral round, including the 2020 one, I think it is a system that it has acquired maturity, and that the Dominican has been able to build its democracy and the determination of its directors in an organized way and without great complexities, we are sure that President Abinader presenting himself to the elections today, would win in the same way without any difficulty ” , assured.
The official and political leader spoke in the weekly interview of elCaribe and CDN.
He reiterated that the PRM has never discussed changing the 50+1 majority to win the presidency. “We have never discussed within the party or the government, the possibility of modifying these percentages, it is not a matter of our interest, nor of our strategy, nor of our curiosity, nor our concern, it has never been an element discussed by us , we won with him (50+1) and we will win again with him in 2024”, Paliza sentenced.
The PRM leader stated that the organization is open to alliance politics and that his plan is to expand the number of parties that support him ahead of the 2024 elections.
“Politics invites the construction of majorities, and in the construction of majorities we want to make alliances within the framework of ideas and proposals, we have seen that our allies today have been within the framework of ideas and proposals,” he said.
Regarding the presence of representatives of various parties at the certificate delivery ceremony led by President Abinader last Sunday, he said that the PRM is a friend of all parties.
“They wanted to compare that presence with an event organized by one of the opposition groups that said that about 14 games would participate and I think that in the end it was only one, nor was the convener; but we are not at the time of alliances, there are others who are, who have been in it for months, but it is important that the convener of that activity explain why he did not even go”, commented Paliza.
Asked if the political organizations that participated in the PRM activity are in talks to make alliances for 2024, Paliza replied that they talk with several for that purpose.
“We have relations with all the parties in the system, there are others that we would like to be our allies, we are also grateful, for example the Reformist Party was not our ally in 2020, but in 2016, in our worst moment, they gave us encouragement, It’s a long-standing relationship.”
pressure for jobs
The president of the PRM affirmed that they are making their best efforts to integrate the PRM leaders into the government.
“Many people do not understand that what a colleague requests is sometimes not a job, it is more than a job, it is a space for participation because political work is very demanding, one dedicates a lot of time to it and puts at risk what one most you want, like your family, sometimes you even invest the few resources you have, and when the goal is reached, you want to be part of something important, even to make your family proud,” explained Paliza.
He expressed that he identifies with those who complain about not yet having participation in the government. “In an organized way, according to the merit of each person and their experience, we must integrate them to move this country forward,” he pointed out.
Regarding his vision of the future of the PRM, he said that the organization cannot concentrate on being an electoral party, that it must have a vision beyond that.
“The parties are more important than an electoral process, they are social organizations, they are centers of thought, they are institutions called to form citizens and their role is very diverse, and we are going to consolidate the party around those purposes,” he said.
He added that the PRM is called to complete the maturing process because it was born in a special moment that served as an outlet for the society that wanted a change.
“We don’t know how to govern, but they recognize us”
The administrative minister of the Presidency questioned the criticism made by opposition parties by accusing officials that they do not know how to govern. “They have used the phrase that they do not know how to govern, the two main opposition parties, and I find it curious that we do not know how to govern, but all the international organizations and the countries of the region see the Dominican Republic with optimism and curiosity to see what we have done to obtain these results”, he underlined. However, he said that he respects the role of the opposition because it is for that. “I would like to see an opposition being more proactive in solutions, in proposals, in ideas that allow everyone to get ahead in a very special crisis that the Dominican Republic is experiencing, this is one more moment for a collaborative opposition, for a useful opposition, which a critical opposition, commented the official and political leader.
