Political analysts say that a battle has opened within the PLD between supporters of President Danilo Medina and former President Leonel Fernandez. Political scientist Freddy Angel Castro said that by firing the director of the Executive Commission for the Reform of the Health Sector (CERSS), Humberto Salazar, Medina made it clear that he prioritizes protecting his supporters and political project, and that he is not going to tolerate any level of dissidence between groups in the government sphere. “It is clear to the people now that President Medina is already preparing for the elections, and the action that they are taking is political, such as responding to the Cardinal and the auxiliary Bishop of Santiago,” he said.
He said that at present, “the PLD is in a very difficult situation; Danilo Medina and Leonel Fernandez will have to take some very tough decisions.”
According to political scientist Cesar Perez, the PLD is going to have to choose its candidate as soon as possible, due to the internal division caused by this question.
“The PLD is getting increasingly jittery about the question of who their candidate will be, so this will have to be settled as soon as possible,” he states.
Meanwhile, the Fernandez camp is calling on the PLD and the Political Committee to defend the former President against what they describe as a smear campaign to link him to drug trafficking. The leader of the PLD Central Committee and of the Fernandez team, Domingo Jimenez, suggested that the party has an obligation to come out in defense of its leader and president.
President Danilo Medina is banned from running for re-election in the 2010 Constitution, but his followers want to change the Constitution so he can run again in 2016. Two political contenders, former President Hipolito Mejia and former President Leonel Fernandez changed the constitutions under which they ran for President in order to allow for their re-election.