The election to choose the new members of the PLD Central Committee has become, as well as a group struggle for the control of the main ruling party organs, a pre-fight struggle between the aspiring candidates for senators and mayors in the 2016 elections. Three senators (Barahona, Bahoruco and Valverde) linked to former President Leonel Fernandez have gone on the offensive by complaining of supposed favoritism by officials who are followers of President Danilo Medina for candidates in these PLD bailiwicks. The most emblematic case is in Barahona, where the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Jose del Castillo Savinon, and the current senator, Eddy Mateo, are engaged in a bitter fight for the political control of the southwestern city, with the objective of achieving the senatorial nomination.
The turn in the activism by Danilo Medina’s followers started on 24 November in the results of the plenary of the VIII Norge Botello Congress, where Leonel Fernandez’s followers managed to approve most of their proposals. Political visits to several provinces by officials have frayed the nerves of local leaders, who fear being displaced by new leaders who have the support of the administration. Besides the fact that it is the party’s main decision-making body, which statutorily has to meet each six months, but does not do so, the Central Committee is the entity that elects the members of the Political Committee, which will be expanded from 27 to 35 members when the party congress comes to an end next 26 January.