Flavio Dario Espinal, dean of the Law School at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, focuses his column in El Caribe on the challenges ahead for the political parties that need to hold primaries to choose their candidates to the May 2004 presidential election.
The PRSC has had to face reality since what its legendary leader [Balaguer] decides no longer applies, with the death of the long-time statesman. Espinal says that the party needs to work within an institutional framework and deal with the conflicts that accompany the problem of transforming itself from an organization with a single candidate to one in which many seek the candidacy.
The PRD in turn must rise to the challenge of the strong internal competition and the likely scenario that President Hipolito Mejia may not run for re-election, while he considers there is an absence of any solid alternative leadership among the many aspirants within the party.
The PLD must adapt to a new system of open-vote primaries, as the party has discarded the traditional internal election system established during the days of Juan Bosch.
Espinal writes that the primaries are not a panacea to overcome the growing lack of credibility and legitimacy of the political parties. He says that if the primaries do not go well, any bad image will be magnified. The positive experiences need to be consolidated and the parties strengthened for the well-being of democracy. He said that it has been proven that a society without strong and efficient political parties exposes itself to a political and institutional dislocation that yields fertile ground for populist and authoritarian leaderships, such as those that have flourished in many other Latin American countries.
