The candidate to mayor and leader of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, Dr. Jos? Francisco Pe?a G?mez left for a medical check up in New York City yesterday. Pe?a G?mez leaves when there is but one weekend left for intensive political campaigning before the political parties take a break for the Easter Week vacation period. Upon leaving, Pe?a appointed Santo Domingo senator Milagros Ort?z Bosch as coordinator for the political campaign. Ort?z leads all polls by far as the most likely winner of the senatorial seat for the capital city in the 16 May 1998 municipal and congressional elections. Pe?a G?mez leaves for his medical check up at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Medical Center amidst speculations as to his health. He admitted to the press that the stress created by the internal fighting for the municipal and congressional candidacies has affected his health. Pe?a G?mez suffers from cancer of the pancreas, but his cancer has been said to be in remission. Pe?a G?mez, who was the most voted candidate in the 1996 presidential election ever, but lost in the second round to President Leonel Fern?ndez, leads in the voters’ preference over the runner up Roberto Salcedo, a TV producer turned politician who is running on the Partido de la Liberaci?n Dominicana ticket.
