President Leonel Fernández said upon attending the wake of Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium, that the deceased politician has a place of honor and distinction reserved in Dominican history. He said that the untimely death of Peña Gómez should serve as motive for reflection among the Dominican family to preserve the democracy Peña Gómez sought to build. Upon attending the wake, the President was verbally assaulted by grieving PRD followers, who seemingly blamed the President and the PLD for the death of their leader. The President attended the funerals with Vice President Jaime David Fernández Mirabal. Earlier, he spoke to the nation declaring 11, 12 and 13 of May days of mourning. Thousands of followers of Dr. Peña Gómez, leader of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, attended the funeral ceremonies at the Olympic Stadium. Several were seen with attacks of hysteria. Former President Joaquín Balaguer also attended the funerals at the Olympic Stadium, accompanied by a high-ranking committee of the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano. The former statesman also highlighted the contributions of Peña Gómez to democracy in the Dominican Republic. PRD leaders have exhorted the following of the party to vote for the party in homage to Peña Gómez. The last poll carried out six days before Peña Gómez’s death by Sigma Dos, a Spanish polling company commissioned by the Listín Diario, the leading Dominican daily, gave the PRD ample victory over the closest runner-up, the government Partido de la Liberación Dominicana. The poll showed that the PRD had at the time 50.5% of the vote for the mayor of Santo Domingo, versus 40.7% of the PLD and 7.6% of the PRSC. Furthermore, senator for Santo Domingo Milagros Ortiz Bosch would obtain 53.8%, Franklin Almeyda of the PLD 35.6%, and Alexis Joaquín Castillo of the PRSC, 9%. Of the 44 deputy congressmen positions for Santo Domingo, the PRD would win 25, the PLD 15 and the PRSC, 4. Peña Gómez’s body spent the evening at the Funeraria Blandino after being shown for nine hours at the Olympic Stadium. He was again to be shown at the Olympic Stadium during as of 10 am on Tuesday, 12 May, and in the afternoon his body would be taken to the headquarters of the PRD in Gazcue, and then to the Municipality of Santo Domingo. Peña will be buried on Wednesday.
