The Partido Reformista Social Cristiano and former President Joaquín Balaguer are back into the political game. Political commentators had forecast that after the major losses experienced by the party in the municipal and congressional elections, the PRSC was all but buried. The PRSC was very critical of the PLD in the elections, (note the campaign slogan, "come sólos" that affected the vote received by the government party candidates), and in a subtle way had allied with the PRD. But Joaquín Balaguer, the most sage Dominican politician of all times, has done a reversal, choosing now to ally with the PLD to confront the PRD in Congress and soon in the Municipal League. Balaguer’s personal support to Leonel Fernández, when the PLD candidate for president in 1996, helped drive that party into the presidency. Balaguer’s support was incidental in the PRSC voting in favor of keeping PRD dissident as president of the Chamber of Deputies, contrary to the expressed interests of the board of the PRD. It is now again being said, that the blind nonagenarian is calling the shots. This week, he joined President Leonel Fernández and both published full page advertisements in the press calling for the resignation of the PRD hand-picked Junta Central Electoral, the body in charge of organizing the elections. An alliance between the PRSC and the PLD could be sufficient to topple aspirations of the PRD to win key electoral positions.
