Partido Revolucionario Dominicano presidential hopefuls Rafael Suberví Bonilla (at present Mayor of Santo Domingo and congressman for Barahona as of August 1998) and Hipólito Mejia (a former minister of agriculture, today farm produce exporter) separately announced their aspirations to the PRD presidential candidate nomination for the year 2000 election. Earlier, in an interview with the Listín Diario yesterday, the party’s secretary general, Hatuey de Camps did not discard he would vie for the presidential candidacy of the party. Hipólito Mejía said if he is elected presidential candidate he would invite Santo Domingo senator Milagros Ortíz Bosch to be his vice presidential candidate. Mejía called out to PRD party members that will be taking over city governments from PRSC militants to treat these with respect to leave doors open for an alliance with that party for the presidential elections in year 2,000. As per the reformed Constitution, 50%+1 of the vote is needed to win the elections, thus alliances are important. Milagros Ortiz Bosch has said that while it is not her personal desire to run for the presidency, she would if the people voted in her favor. She has emphasized that the party must define the rules for the electing of the presidential candidate prior to the launching of any candidacies. The politicians spoke at a mass held in the Cathedral of Santiago in the memory of Dr. Jose Francisco Peña Gomez, leader of the PRD.
