A spokesman for the Proyecto Presidencial Hip?lito (PPH), the faction within the ruling PRD party that took Hip?lito Mej?a to the presidency, announced that the group has decided to register the pre-candidacy of the President in the yet-to-be-scheduled PRD primaries. Customs Department director Vicente S?nchez Baret made the announcement to the press following the meeting at the home of Agriculture Minister Eligio J?quez in Los Prados. Other key PPH members present were legal advisor to the Executive Branch Guido G?mez Mazara and Supervisor of Public Works Hernani Salazar. As reported in El Caribe’s online edition, J?quez told the press that the President at no time asked the PPH to register him as a pre-candidate. The decision was made, he says, so that the PPH would be included in all meetings leading up to the PRD primaries. The tentative date of the primaries is thought to be sometime in September.
The president of the PRD, Hatuey de Camps has been very vocal against Mej?a seeking the PRD candidacy in the 2004 presidential election.
Those that aspire to be the PRD candidate in the 2004 election are scheduled to meet this afternoon at the PRD headquarters.