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ity governments will meet on Thursday, 26 January 2017, to choose the head of the Dominican Municipal League (LMD). Although the LMD is the body charged with developing policies and strategies for municipal city government development, it is best known as a conduit for political spoils. The general assembly to choose the head of LMD is scheduled to start at 10am at the Santo Domingo Sheraton Hotel.
The LMD chair post has been awarded to the PRSC since 1999 by the PLD in appreciation for the PRSC support of the PLD during consecutive presidential campaigns. Johnny Jones of the PRSC is seeking re-election as LMD chairman.
But now, for the same political spoils tradition, the new PLD ally, the PRD, wants the position to go to one of its leaders.
But partisans of the ruling PLD insist the LMD position was not offered to the PRD as part of the talks leading to the PRD’s congressional support for the change of the 2010 Constitution that allowed President Danilo Medina to run for re-election in 2016.
The PLD secretary general, Reinaldo Pared Pérez, has floated the name of Ignacio Ditrén as the candidate to the post, but the PLD has not yet registered Ditrén as their party’s official candidate. Meanwhile the PRD has put forward Neney Cabrera as its candidate.
The other majority party participating in the election, the PRM, has 30 city governments and has called for its members to abstain from voting for any candidate of the PLD government block.
Candidates can be nominated up to the morning of the event.
MetroRD highlights that, in addition to traditionally being treated as political spoils for leading government political allies, the LMD chair is especially attractive for the perks it brings. For example, MetroRD reports that the LMD allots RD$20 million for per diems for the 12 meetings a year of its executive board, in which 32 mayors and representatives of municipal affairs commissions of majority political parties participate.
MetroRD indicates that of the RD$844,360,000 budget of the LMD, most goes to pay wages of 400 employees that adds up to RD$10.5 million a month.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
El Dia
Metro RD
Diario Libre
26 January 2017
