The two main political parties of the last 20 years, the PLD and the PRD, signed a cooperation agreement yesterday, Monday, 7 September 2015. The PLD was originally founded by dissidents from the PRD.
While the PRD was the leading opposition party in the 2012 national election, independent polls now show that its followers have declined to below the percentage needed to maintain legal status as a party. By allying with the PLD, the party will be able to maintain its legal status and the considerable state funding it receives.
The PLD and PRD signed a political agreement for the three levels of election in May 2016. The pact was reached after PRD legislators agreed to vote in favor of the amendment to change the 2010 Constitution to enable incumbent President Danilo Medina to run for re-election.
President Danilo Medina and PRD president Miguel Vargas Maldonado spoke at the event. President Danilo Medina said the alliance opens doors to the creation of policies that would provide stability and solutions to the country’s long-standing problems.
Vargas Maldonado read a list of commitments to Medina administration programs that he would be supporting. He highlighted that Medina was now sure to win the 2016 presidential election.
During the event, there was no mention of any other candidates proposed jointly for the legislative and municipal election that is being held concurrently with the presidential election.
The witnesses to the agreement were Luis Ayala, Secretary General of the Socialist International, former President of Ecuador Rodrigo Borja, former President of Guatemala Alvaro Colon, and former Governor of Puerto Rico Anibal Acevedo Vidal.
The PLD had said that party president and former President Leonel Fernandez would not be attending due to a prior engagement overseas. However, Fernandez returned to the country from the US earlier in the day and refused to speak to journalists about his attendance. Before the constitutional change, polls showed that Fernandez was the most popular PLD pre-candidate eligible to run for President under the 2010 Constitution.