Two years and just over six months before the May 2024 elections, political parties and their leaders take to the streets with the aim of reorganizing their cadres and keeping their followers enthusiastic. The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the People’s Force (FP), the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) and the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) are increasingly active on the playing field.
Although the covid-19 virus that took political activism off the street in the final stretch of the 2020 campaign, continues in the country, now with the lifting of most restrictive measures such as the curfew and elimination of the State of Emergency, the leaders have defied all the sanitary protocols and the only thing that is observed is the use of masks in the events that they lead.
In the case of the ruling PRM, the president of the organization and Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, is fully in the activism of his party that next March will have to renew its authorities and agencies.
But in addition to his own partisan work, the actions published by Paliza about his political activism go further. The official has created sessions like “a coffee with a beating” in which he is observed sharing in settings other than the PRM structure. In addition to Paliza, Guido Gómez Mazara is actively activating in that party, and finally David Collado was added, who affirmed that by order of President Luis Abinader he would raise up those who still do not have a job to place them in jobs in the State.
In the case of the PLD, the departure of the organization’s president and former president Danilo Medina has reactivated that party, which is also immersed in promoting presidential profiles in order to choose the presidential candidate for the 2024 elections.
In fact, the Central Committee of that party has been summoned for the next day 30 with the aim of making official the presidential pre-candidacies of the purple party. So far, Francisco Domínguez Brito, Abel Martínez, Maritza Hernández and Margarita Cedeño have said that they aspire to the presidential candidacy.
So far, the most active are Domínguez Brito and Martínez, while the former vice president last weekend went from words to deeds. The lady reported events in Guerra and Boca Chica. Cedeño was accompanied by the brothers Simón and Cristina Lizardo, both from the Political Committee.
Leonel and the FP
Objectively, Leonel Fernández has not lowered his guard on activism since the last elections concluded with swearing-in and the passing of leaders and especially legislators who have left the PLD to join the ranks of that organization.
Recently, he did a long activism in several states of the United States, especially New York. In addition, it has remained active through the process of the constitutive congress of the organization and now with the affiliation of members with a view to choosing the authorities scheduled for next year.
Fernández also has a great impact on public opinion when he establishes positions on the issues on the national agenda, as happened with the speech in response to President Luis Abinader’s speech last August.
In addition to Fernández, the political secretary of the FP, Radhamés Jiménez, heads the activities of that organization, which is why political activism is basically led by Jiménez and Fernández in that organization.
Other events are led by the organization secretary, Bautista Rojas Gómez and the general secretary, Antonio Florían (Peñita). Fernández has the advantage that his candidacy is guaranteed for 2024, contrary to what happens in the PLD.
Meanwhile, the president of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Miguel Vargas, is active both in the reorganization of the white party and in opposition to the PRM government. “We believe that, although it is necessary in the future to reach a consensus for a Fiscal Pact, while we are within the economic crisis caused by the COVID pandemic, this is not the right time, nor the most convenient time to increase the already heavy tax burden. of the Dominicans with a new tax reform ”, he said recently about what government officials have raised in relation to the possibility of a tax reform. However, Vargas has not said if he will present a presidential candidacy or if his party will go alone or ally to the next elections. In the last two processes, the organization was allied to the PLD and retains the condition of the majority party because it reached 5% at the level of deputies.
The JCE warning is not for the parties
The JCE warned political parties about the illegality of officializing candidates for popularly elected positions before July 2023 because it is prohibited by law 33/18. However, the activities carried out by the parties are not prohibited by the Law on Political Parties and Groups or by the resolution issued by the JCE on the activities that are allowed and those that are prohibited in the period prior to the electoral pre-campaign. What would be necessary to see if with the passage of time the party events do not overflow and become rallies and caravans, prohibited by law.
