President Hipolito Mejia announced yesterday that former Tourism Minister Rafael Subervi Bonilla (he was replaced by his wife Miguelina Ortiz) would be his running mate on the PRD Presidential ticket, as reported in the Listin Diario. Mejia proposed that Subervi join his re-election efforts nationwide. The announcement by Culture Minister Tony Raful to the press came after the President paid a half-hour visit to Subervi at his home yesterday morning. Also participating in the meeting were Vicente Sanchez Baret, Eligio Jaquez, Peggy Cabral, Alexis Espinal Tactuk, Rafael Diaz Filpo, Tony Pena, Hector Cruz, Abigail Soto, Ana Maria Acevedo, and Yadira Henriquez, among others. Subervi is expected to make the announcement of his adhesion to the Mejia campaign today. Previously, Subervi had said he was not interested in the Vice-Presidential nomination. He campaigned actively to become the PRD presidential candidate, only to be outmaneuvered by Mejia.
Last week, Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, who also sought to become the PRD Presidential candidate, announced she was abandoning this effort and released her supporters to integrate to the PRD campaign.
Political analyst Pedro Catrain said that despite the new cohesion of forces, Mejia’s aspirations continue to represent to the people an alternative of inefficiency, authoritarianism and lack of institutionalism, for which he feels Subervi will not make the difference. “Evidently, this agreement could produce an internal impact within the PRD and among that party’s members, but I do not believe it will be significant enough to increase the popularity of the candidacy of President Mejia.”
Recent independent polls show Mejia in third place with 14.6% (Gallup-February) and 13% (Penn Schoen-January). The PLD’s Leonel Fernandez leads in voters’ preference with 63.1% (Gallup-February) and 65.7% (Penn Schoen-January) and the PRSC’s Eduardo Estrella is ranked second with 14.9% (Gallup) and 16% (Penn Schoen).