An increasing number of PRD deputies are opposing President Hipolito Mejia’s re-election plans, for fear that his candidacy may lead them back into opposition, report the newspapers. Even the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, has distanced himself from the PPH (Proyecto Presidencial Hipolito, internal PRD campaign for the President’s re-election), although he maintains a neutral stance on the re-election issue in principle. A group of 31 PRD deputies, including some PPH members, called on the Presidential pre-candidates to select a “consensus candidate” to reunite the party. This clearly implies the exclusion of President Mejia from the running. The President refused to comment on the matter to waiting journalists yesterday. Outside the PRD, a number of influential voices have also spoken out against re-election, including those of Elena Viyella de Paliza, president of private business association CONEP; Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez; the Evangelical Union Conference and the Economist Intelligence Unit, which believes that Presidential re-election is incompatible with the IMF agreement. Hoy newspaper reports that civil society organization Participacion Ciudadana has called on the President to put the country’s interests above his political ambitions. The President should concentrate on “governing well” as the nation faces one of its most serious crises, said a document released by Participacion Ciudadana’s national council. Meanwhile, both PRD factions are busy preparing for their parallel conventions, one of which includes the President as a pre-candidate. Writing in Listin Diario, Ana Mitila Lora says the President and his administration have succeeded in uniting the Dominican people “in growing discontent and complaints and rejection of their economic management. They feel deceived when told about the fight against poverty, they suffer from insecurity and uncertainty, and to a lesser extent, they are affected by institutional precariousness.”