Miriam Diaz Santana, the co-ordinator of civil society organization Participacion Ciudadana, said on the TV news Channel 37 (Cadena de Noticias) morning show today that “the specter of electoral fraud is still lurking in the country.” Although she desisted from naming names, she said that if President Hipolito Mejia exercised fraud in the 16 May election, it would be “regrettable” and that “in these times we should not be imitating President Joaquin Balaguer and his era.” She evoked the commitments to uphold democracy the Dominican Republic has made to international organizations such as the OAS (Organization of American States). She also described the current economic situation as “explosive for the people.” She ends on a note of optimism: “Let us hope that the predictions we face do not become reality, and that things do not turn out to be as bad as they appear.”