Fidel Santana, president of the Frente Amplio, and an elected legislator, says that the PLD partisans to President Danilo Medina are on a re-election offensive to amend the Constitution to allow a second re-election of President Medina in the 2020 general elections. As reported, in Acento, Santana says that those who want to stay in power are tempting legislators with cash offers, offers of a luxury apartment, luxury vehicles and other gifts.
“Believe what I am saying, because I have not dreamed it up. That is what is moving around in the Congress of the Republic. There are PLD directors that have spoken of RD$35 million in bank deposits, it is the same people of the PLD that have denounced that,” he says, as reported in Acento.
The PLD is divided among those that want to amend the Constitution to legally enable the reelection of President Medina, and those that back former President Leonel Fernandez, the highest ranked candidate for the PLD, according to leading polls, if Medina does not run for President. Medina would need the votes of these legislators to push through the modification of the Constitution.
Santana stressed that when President Medina has wanted something passed in Congress, this has happened fast. When interviewed by journalist Elvis Lima for Fuera de Record, Santana said that even if Medina achieves the amendment of the Constitution, this does not necessarily mean he will win the re-election bid.
“Danilo has very effective and talented people who are setting the stage for the president’s bid for re-election. What’s more, this crusade is so hot that Congress seems like a financial institution offering certificates of deposit, and on the other hand it looks like a dealer offering cars and SUVs, or a real estate agent offering apartments, “he insisted.
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Acento
15 January 2019
