At 6pm on Sunday, 13 August 2023, President Luis Abinader announced via Whatsapp that he will run again for President in the 19 May 2024 presidential election. He was on the flight back to Santo Domingo after attending the Dominican Parade in New York City, when a video was distributed via Whatsapp first, then on his social media channels.
According to the rules for the presidential elections, pre-candidates have until 15 August 2023 to register for the chosen internal election process of each political party.
The ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) has yet to hold the primary to choose its presidential candidate from a list of 3 million persons registered as members of that organization.
PRM politicians, lawyer Guido Gómez Mazara and engineer Ramón Alburquerque have announced they will participate in the contest for the presidential candidacy of the PRM.
“I communicate my decision to participate in the internal elections of the Modern Revolutionary Party for its candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in the 2024 elections,” Abinader said in the recorded message.
He pointed out that after deep thought he understood that the country is above personal or family tranquility.
In his opening words of the reelection announcement video, he could have launched his campaign keyword — honesty. He recognized that the value of honesty led him to the Presidency of the Republic in 2020 and that this is a legacy he strives to honor every day.
He considered that honesty is the best policy that can be applied because it preserves democracy. He pointed out that independent state prosecutors supervise honest actions in the public administration.
With the Abinader announcement, the contenders for the main political parties in the presidential candidates in the 2024 elections are: President Luis Abinader for the PRM; former President Leonel Fernandez for the Fuerza del Pueblo (People’s Force) and Santiago Mayor Abel Martinez for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). Former Minister of Foreign Relations Miguel Vargas Maldonado has said he will run for President for the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) but has not registered his candidacy yet. For the minority parties, namely Opción Democrática, Virginia Antares Rodriguez is the party runner for President.
In the past 50 years, Dominican Presidents who have sought won their reelection bids are President Danilo Medina (who changed the Constitution to do so), President Leonel Fernandez (who changed the Constitution to be able to run in 2024) and the late President Joaquín Balaguer.
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14 August 2023