Former President Leonel Fernandez said yesterday in a televised speech to the nation that the Ley de Lemas seeks to generate a state of national confusion that would affect the May 2004 election. He said the Ley de Lemas was dismantled in Uruguay after it caused major problems of governance, legitimacy and voter turnout. Fernandez stressed that the law could lead the most unpopular candidate straight to the Presidency. He said that some PRD leaders with unbridled power ambitions want to resuscitate the absurd and bring further anxiety to Dominican society by incorporating an element of political controversy to a present economic and social crisis generated by the lack of responsibility and ineptitude of the government himself. He mentioned that the exchange rate has depreciated more than 100%, inflation in 2003 ended at 40% and the interest rates at above 40%. Also, the foreign public debt has doubled from 2000 to 2004, to where it now stands at US$8.4 billion, which means the government needs to use 40 of every 100 pesos to pay interest and capital payments of the debt. He also mentioned that during the Mejia administration, more than 650,000 jobs have been lost, with the unemployment rate up 25% from 2000. Fernandez mentioned that Dominicans are hurting from the constant increases in the prices of daily consumer items. “The Dominican Republic should be one of those rare places on the planet where a head of state, in an Olympic manner, still goes out with a thunderbolt of outright disregard for the Constitution, laws and public opinion, and the notion that power is there to be used,” said Fernandez. Fernandez stressed that the government should never be a promoter of conflicts.