In one of his first announcements, Santo Domingo East mayor-elect Manuel Jimenez said that he would not allow that the bus terminal be installed next door to the Los Tres Ojos protected area on parking lot area of the Mirador del Este park. He reaffirmed the construction violates the law. “The Parque del Este needs our protection and it is protected by law, and by three rulings by Dominican courts. There cannot be a decision outside of one that calls a halt to the construction of the bus terminal,” he told his followers.
“I will govern complying with the laws, and the law is clear. All that government officers need to do is written. Manuel Jimenez will not be inventing anything, he will only comply with the law,” he said.
Manuel Jiménez now has the challenge of a lifetime. He was elected by a comfortable majority to be the major of Santo Domingo East, the second largest municipality in the Dominican Republic. The ballad singer and composer is only the third Dominican entertainer to be elected mayor. Others are merengue singer Johnny Ventura (1998-2002) for the National District and bachata singer Raulin Rodriguez (2016 to present), Las Matas de Santa Cruz in northwestern Montecristi.
The singer-composer is best known for his songs, “Quien no sabe de amor,” “Derroche” among others. Yet his vocation as a politician led him to be elected deputy for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 2002. He was reelected in 2006 and 2010. For the 2016 election, he aspired to run for the PLD, but the deciding forces of the political party favored the reelection of Juan de los Santos and a primary was not hold to decide. In 2015, he resigned from the party and ran for the Frente Amplio, losing in his first try.
In his second attempt, this time running for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), he won with 61.38% of the vote, according to preliminary results from the Central Electoral Board (JCE). He also had the support of the Frente Amplio that participated in the election as part of a coalition of parties that backed the PRM.
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Listin Diario
18 March 2020