The Fuerza Nacional Progresista political party of lawyer Marino Vinicio (Vincho) Castillo and his son Deputy Pelegrin Castillo alerted today in a paid advertisement that what lies behind the Ley de Lemas proposal, only 126 days before election day, is a desperate plan in the face of the insurmountable advantage in the polls of the PLD presidential candidate, Dr. Leonel Fernandez. “This situation of fear and hysteria, which months ago was limited to the group that backed President Hipolito Mejia’s re-election, has now spread to all the party candidates and prominent figures who for decades had defended democratic values, but today use their intellect to back what is but a coup on the elections, so that, once a constitutional void has been created, they may find a solution in a Congress that is obedient to PRD orders.” The FNP describe the Ley de Lemas as “the ideal instrument of chaos and disorder” for the voting process and the tabulation of votes, as well as “an excellent setting to open the doors to a Central Electoral Board that has shown its strong PRD slant to then annul the process and declare the conditions unfit to carry out elections.” The FNP highlights that the approval of the Ley de Lemas, which in the words of President Mejia as televised, should be imposed by the authorities, because the authorities have been charged to exercise it, is a serious attempt to undermine democracy in the Dominican Republic and its 16 May election. The FNP urges the nation to start a national resistance movement against the covert coup d’etat hidden within the Ley de Lemas. “Take Congress a recourse against the Ley de Lemas, underwritten by the political parties, civil society organizations, business organizations, unions, and private citizens, so as to keep the authors of the coup from power. Urge that the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) urgently convene the OAS Permanent Council to impede that the will of the Dominican people be infringed upon and with it the established constitutional system.”