Then on Saturday, 16 March, the last day, Jacinto Peynado announced the PRSC vice presidential candidate would be 37-year old doctor in law Maribel Gassó Diez. The nomination came as a surprise to almost everyone. Reportedly, she was requested to send her curriculum to the candidate on Tuesday, March 12 and then on Wednesday, March 13 met with Peynado. She accepted the nomination on Thursday, March 14.
Miss Gassó is not known to have political ties, and becomes the youngest candidate in the election. (The PLD candidate is 41). But she has shown strong business sector leadership, even being the president of the Asociación Nacional de Jóvenes Empresarios (ANJE), an important association for the new generation of business people. She is director of planning at Gassó & Gassó, a leading pharmaceutical company owned by her family.
She is a doctor of law with honors from the Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña in Santo Domingo, with a masters from the New York University. She speaks three languages.
After her candidacy was announced, Maribel Gassó said she decided to accept the honor for three reasons:
1) Jacinto Peynado offers a sound government plan, that is coherent, and more important, can be carried out.
2) Jacinto Peynado, by choosing a woman as his electoral partner, expresses his inner conviction that the Domincian woman is prepared, and has the right to participate, in the great decisions of the nation.
3) Jacinto Peynado is providing an opportunity for the youth of this country to assume, with responsibility, its role in the history of the Dominican Republic.