PLD mayors backed Johnny Jones of the PRSC allowing him to lead the Dominican Municipal League for another four years. The new PLD government ally, the PRD, had sought to be rewarded for PRD legislative support in securing for President Danilo Medina the necessary votes to change the 2010 Constitution to allow him to run for President in 2016.
Johnny Jones of the PRSC received 109 votes in favor. José Leonel Cabrera (Neney) of the PRD received 30 votes.
140 mayors participated in the assembly that took place on Thursday, 26 January 2017, at the Santo Domingo Sheraton. The mayors that had voted for Cabrera did not stay to hear Jones’ acceptance speech.
At the General Assembly, Jones was sworn in to continue in the post by ex officio president of the Municipal League, Minister of Interior and Police Carlos Amarante Baret.
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 executive editor of Diario Libre writes in the 27 January 2017 editorial to explain the politics behind the election of Johnny Jones. He writes:
“In a country where everything is political or viewed in this light, the explanation on the street about the recent events has to be political. On the Dominican Municipal League, the above comment affirms that the inside struggle within the Dominican Liberation Party is so intense that Danilo was not going to be so clumsy to give that beachhead to Leonel Fernández. So far, Danilo has managed to get Leonel’s people out of budget management and was not going to open that gate with the League.”
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
27 January 2017
