On 10 July 2019 Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado had stated that the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) he presides would only back the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) if President Danilo Medina were the presidential candidate. When on 22 July Medina announced he would not seek the nomination, Vargas was left without a candidate to back.
Political analyst Ubi Rivas writes in Hoy on 5 August 2019 that Vargas has now the difficult challenge of forging his own political path. Rivas explains that over the years, the PRD has declined in vote count in the national elections. The party reached the Presidency in 2000, with then President Hipólito Mejía accumulating 1,593,231 votes against 796,923 votes of Danilo Medina. In 2004, the PRD would lose to Leonel Fernández of the PLD, with the vote ending 2,115,971 (57.1%) to 1,975,925 (36.7%).
In the 2008 election, Miguel Vargas running for President on the PRD ticket obtained 1,654,066 votes or 40.48% against 2,199,734 votes or 53.85% of Leonel Fernandez of the PLD. In 2012, Hipólito Mejía ran for President again obtaining 2,130,189 votes or 46.45% to Leonel Fernandez’s 2,323,463 or 51.21% of the vote.
But in 2016, the party was divided. A large group of party leaders left to form the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). The PRD ran allied with the ruling PLD, backing President Danilo Medina and obtained 5% of the vote.
Recent speculations are that President Danilo Medina will appoint Vargas to the Ministry of Public Works in order to ensure his loyalty.
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Hoy
6 August 2019