The plebiscite called by the PRD party was held yesterday, showing a 90% rejection rate on the issue of the proposed Presidential re-election, according to today’s press. Depending on the newspaper, the plebiscite increased the internal division of the party, scored a victory for the anti-re-election sector or just gave mixed results. The government-intervened Listin Diario says that because of the poor turnout in many areas of Santo Domingo and the larger provinces, the “No” vote may or may not be conclusive. According to the first bulletin from the election center of the PRD, 90% of voters answered “No” to the question of presidential re-election, although only about 9% of the polling stations had been tallied at that time.
The papers are in agreement that the voting went off with little or no serious incidents. In just only one instance, individuals armed with military-style weapons made off with six of the ballot boxes.
El Caribe reports that the plebiscite has deepened the rift between the six presidential hopefuls and the PPH group pushing for re-election. President Hipolito Mejia spent the weekend working on his re-election campaign, mostly in the Cibao Valley, the heartland of the Dominican Republic. The President and members of his cabinet appeared on national television to minimize the importance of the plebiscite. Ministers of Finance, Agriculture and the Press spoke out in favor of Mejia’s re-election and ridiculed the attempts of the six hopefuls to stop the President’s re-election campaign.