The President advocated for reaching agreements between the branches of government, rather than confrontation. He said that if the PRD seeks to foster confrontation in Congress what would result would be the stagnation of the work of that branch. The PRD does not have the 2/3 of the vote in Congress that would permit PRD deputies to override a presidential veto to a bill. In his televised talk today, President Fernández said that the government party could vote in favor of Hector Rafael Peguero Méndez, the present President of the Chamber of Deputies who has confronted the leadership of the PRD and seeks to be re-elected with the vote of the PLD and PRSC deputies. President Fernández said that it is in the best interest of the PRD, if they consider themselves a strong option to win the Presidency in year 2000, to concert with the PLD. He said that the measures the government is proposing were also defended by the PRD in its government program. Polls say that the PRD has the strongest candidate to win the year 2000 presidential elections, Milagros Ortíz Bosch. Moreover, it is unlikely that the PRD Congress will pass a motion to permit the re-election of President Leonel Fernández, who is the PLD’s only strong potential candidate to the presidency. Thus Fernández said that to pass the reforms proposed by the government and that were also contemplated in the PRD government program, will only result in the PRD inheriting a better positioned and stronger economy and fiscal situation. He said that a long term vision is necessary if the country is to develop economically and socially. He called for a historic pact among politicians with the best interest of the nation foremost. He said that the reduction of tariffs and the increase of the sales tax as a compensatory measure need to be seen as measures that will benefit the nation. He said the PRD is shortsighted not to see that these measures will indeed leave the country in a better economic situation for the next government. It is implied that the PRD could be the next government. Speaking on TV, President Fernández said that a long term vision to leave behind economic and social underdevelopment. To bring about changes in a democracy is difficult, he said pointing out that it is easier to promote change in a dictatorship. In democracy, he explained, one needs a historic pact, where the national interests are the prevailing factor. "The tariffs reform, the compensatory tributary, are to benefit the nation, not the present government. "They require a historic pact of the national sectors, placing political and individual interests behind so that we can see the 21st century as the great opportunity for all," he said. "This country needs, in these moments, all to join forces, so that a a historic pact that trascends politics can be reached. If not we will suffer from years of draw back and stagnation." He said that one of the great lessons he has learned as President is that the Dominican Republic is alone. "The problem of Dominicans will only be solved by Dominicans. We cannot wait for our crisis to be solved by the United States, France or Italy. Dominican problems belong to Dominicans. In the post cold war era each nation has to build its own destiny. That is why we have promoted the development of our international relations, not because those nations are going to solve our problems, but because today nations are interdependent. To participate in today’s world we have to adopt measures that bring us up to date with the times, measures that the opposing political parties do not want to understand are for the common good, not to perpetuate ourselves in power." The President concluded, "He who wants to be an option of power, needs to carry these out now or they will rule in crisis."
