“I’m going to win the election,” he said as he gestured and was applauded by those present at the National Assembly of Leaders held on Monday, 21 October at a sports arena. In the event closing speech, he ensured his followers that the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) will win the presidential election scheduled for May 2020. “Go ahead, comrades and comrades, with these men who are here, I particularly tell you that I win the next election,” said Medina, even though he is not the presidential candidate for the PLD. Gonzalo Castillo is the presidential candidate for the PLD.
Medina also said that it was Gonzalo Castillo’s turn to close the event with his speech, but the party had decided that he should not speak. Medina explained this was “to protect him as the candidate of the PLD.”
President Danilo Medina said that the support of those present in the event was multiplied by the people outside the arena who would support the chosen PLD presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo. “But not just you, for each one of you there are a thousand people in your homes waiting to support him, to take Gonzalo Castillo to the Presidency of the Republic,” he said.
In the same improvised speech, Medina warned that PLD party members winning their candidacies in the elections and then supporting Leonel Fernández that they will not get away with it. “In the PLD we are open and generous, but we are not fools. Anyone who thinks he’s going to pull our leg is wrong. If you want to fool us, don’t waste your time, because you won’t win,” he said, warning those who are not loyal to him.
Several strong Leonel Fernández supporters won candidacies to congressional and municipal positions during the 6 October PLD primary. These include Amarilis Santana, who won the PLD senate andidacy for La Romana; Abel Martínez, who won the party candidacy for mayor of Santiago; Félix Bautista, who won the senate seat for San Juan de la Maguana; and Dionis Sánchez, who won the senate seat for Pedernales.
Deputy Demóstenes Martínez, who won a deputy seat also for the PLD, already resigned from running as a candidate for the party.
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23 October 2019