Pld, Prd, Prsc...

AtlantaBob

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Jan 2, 2002
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Can anybody give me a short one or two sentence summary on the philosophies, platforms or positions of the Dominican political
parties??? Thanks
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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I'll try not to be too cynical...

but... the three parties have one BIG thing in common. They want power and once they get it the philosophy is to fill their pockets while they can. Their platform is to promise to reward their followers with public appointments, lucrative road-building contracts etc. to ensure future loyalty.

On a more serious note, ideology wise the PRD and the PLD are traditionally centre-left. As with most places in the world, these days this has very little meaning. The PLD was formed by Juan Bosch, one of the original founders of the PRD. There is not much ideological difference between the two. It's really more about personalities and loyalties than ideology.

The PRSC is traditionally the more conservative of the parties. Founded by Balaguer, it was until his death little more than an electoral campaign machine for his presidential aspirations. Now it is in the throes of a leadership campaign and this will test its abilities as a real political party.

As Golo has pointed out in recent posts, the 'ghosts' of the three parties are still very important in their campaigning: Balaguer for the PRSC, Bosch for the PLD and Pe?a for the PRD. This indicates that in a political scene where cults of personality dominate, no convincing successors have yet emerged for any of the three parties. Not necessarily a bad thing, meaning that the country might be moving on from personality-based politics, but it shows that it is still difficult for the parties to engage with most of the electorate, who are used to identifying with strong leader figures. Hence the use of 'ghosts'.

Chiri
 
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