In the latest poll conducted by the daily Listin Diario and the polling firm Sigma Dos, 92% of the party faithful said that they will back whomever emerges from the May 16 Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) convention with the nomination for president. Recently media and politics watchers have openly speculated that the squabbles and maneuvering among the five PRD pre-candidates may result in a fractious party going into the year 2000 campaign. The same poll asked this question directly will the pre-candidates’ campaigning affect party unity? and received a resounding "No!" (82.2%). The same poll also asked peredistas to indicate who they’d most like their favorite candidate to ally himself/herself with. Followers of ex-Agriculture Minister Hipólito Mejía chose Santo Domingo’s Senator, Milagros Ortíz Bosch, as her followers did with Mejía (70.5% and 87.7%, respectively). Thus the recently announced pact between the two appears to enjoy solid support in each camp. Followers of Santiago’s Senator, Rafael Abinader, also picked Ortíz Bosch, albeit with less enthusiasm (40%). Abinader’s followers were the least enthusiastic about the idea of alliances. The followers of PRD leader Hatuey Decamps and ex-SD Mayor Rafael ("Fello") Suberví favored an alliance between the two, although neither with numbers over 50%.
