President Hipolito Mejia’s intensely troubled PRD party is even more divided this morning after the three presidential hopefuls who were to challenge Mejia at the party convention abandoned the contest. Vice-President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Rafael Subervi Bonilla and Enmanuel Esquea Guerrero withdrew their participation from any party convention that included Hipolito Mejia. Previously, the group had requested a postponement of the convention scheduled for last Sunday. According to a statement from the three, they withdrew because they were convinced the PPH faction (Proyecto Presidencial Hipolito) “had produced an unfavorable series of unacceptable situations that ?would corrupt the internal voting process so much as to strip the results of all legitimacy.” The group referred to the use of state funds to buy votes, the hundreds of thousands of names that were either added or subtracted from the voting lists and the “purchase” of party workers.
The PRD is now split into three groups, each of which will attempt to secure one candidate for May’s elections: the PPH faction, which supports Hipolito Mejiia; the three pre-candidates who have abandoned the show-down with Mejia, but not their aspiration to the nomination; and the anti-re-election faction that has already held its convention and nominated Hatuey De Camps as its flag bearer. Lawyers representing the PPH faction, sent an opposition to the Chamber of Disputes of the JCE, regarding the legality of that first convention. The JCE judges have not yet issued an opinion. Regardlessly, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) deadline for parties to register their Presidential candidates is 60 days prior to the election, or 16 March 2004.