By allowing his closest and most trusted circle to promote his re-election, President Danilo Medina appears to be in the process of sounding out public opinion and assessing the political cost of the decision, and the main hurdle could be faced in the National Congress. According to political scientists Daniel Pou and Freddy Angel Castro, the President does not completely exclude the possibility of re-election, and being cautious, he waits for media reactions before making any announcement on the issue.
Nevertheless, the issue is more complex for former Vice President Rafael Alburquerque, who is a member of the team that is supporting former President Leonel Fernandez, and he warns that the problem is not time, but the Constitution, which can only be reformed with favorable votes from the legislators backing Miguel Vargas, Hipolito Mejia and Luis Abinader.
He argues that the Constitution prohibits re-election. Its modification requires the consenting vote of two-thirds of the Congressional membership, and the ruling PLD does not have the numbers for achieving a reform. “You will have to ask Hipolito Mejia, Miguel Vargas Maldonado and Luis Abinader if they are willing to concede the votes that they control, as the heads of their political factions, to the PLD bloc. The Constitution is reformed by the Revision Assembly, the problem is not about time, it is the Constitution,” he stated.
Pou’s theory is that Medina is monitoring the landscape to see if a significant social movement emerges in support of his re-nomination. “He is waiting for the precise moment to speak,” he told Diario Libre reporters.