As reported in today’s Listin Diario, PLD Presidential candidate Leonel Fernandez said yesterday that the eyes of the world would be on the Dominican Republic on election day, 16 May 2004. He said that victory was assured for his party, which has placed well ahead of the current government party and the other opposition party, the PRSC, in all recent opinion polls. “There is no way the trend can be reversed. It is consolidating and strengthening the resolve of the many components of Dominican society.” Not even electoral fraud could stand in the way of his party’s victory, according to Fernandez, although he called for international observers to be present at next year’s election. “No one can mess with the Dominican people’s peace and stability,” declared the former President (1996 – 2000), speaking at the launch of the PLD’s national campaign headquarters on Santo Domingo’s Ave. Churchill. Nevertheless, Fernandez cautioned against complacency, warning party supporters “not to sit on their laurels, but to get out and work for victory as if we were in a distant third place. The PLD will not celebrate victory until the last vote is counted.”