Santo Domingo.-President Luis Abinader’s announcement that he will not attempt to modify the Constitution to seek a mandate beyond 2028 has sparked early announcements of aspirations for presidential candidacies.
The debate was initiated by the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party itself when, a week after the elections, President Abinader led a meeting with a dozen leaders considered “presidential candidates.”
The discussion then moved on to the Fuerza del Pueblo party, which gave rise to discussions about the future of Leonel Fernández or whether he should give way to his son Omar Fernández.
The Dominican Liberation Party seemed focused on its attempts to regroup and successfully emerge from its 10th Congress, in which the main question was the future of Danilo Medina and the presidency of that political organization.
However, Francisco Javier García decided to unleash the demons of presidential aspirations and announced on a radio program that he would aspire to the 2028 candidacy, which will surely unleash the race of aspirants that could include Francisco Domínguez Brito and the previous presidential candidate Abel Martínez, and thus distract from the objectives of the 10th Congress.
Evaluations
Following the last elections, the major parties have undergone electoral performance evaluation processes, and in the case of the PLD and the Fuerza del Pueblo, they are working on their respective congresses.
The purple party has the challenge of uniting itself in the next four years, preventing division and the departure of leaders and activists from leading to a further decrease in the number of votes, which in the last elections was reduced to 10 percent.
Among the presidential candidates for the ruling PRM are Carolina Mejía, David Collado, Guido Gómez Mazara, Wellington Arnaud, Raquel Peña and Eduardo Sanz Lovatón, among others.
Leonel Fernández has been the only presidential candidate of the Fuerza del Pueblo in his two electoral participations without having any contenders opposing him.
However, his son Omar Fernández has now been targeted and recently a leader of that organization named Hipólito Polanco announced that he would seek the presidential nomination for 2028, being the only one who has dared to do so, apart from Fernández.
Conditions
—1— PRM
The PRM is generating interest in the candidacy that President Abinader will not be able to present.
—2— PLD
Francisco Javier García made public his aspirations for the presidential nomination for the purple party.
