Engineer Lenin de la Rosa of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) won the mayor seat in San Juan de la Maguana. He was one of the 16 candidates for the opposition to win a mayor seat in an election of 158 mayor positions that has been swept by ruling Modern Revolutionary Party candidates. De la Rosa received 54% of the vote to his contender, architect Hanoi Sanchez, who received 44.85% of the vote.
What is outstanding is that Hanoi Sanchez had the record of winning the past four terms — 2006-2010, 2010-2016, 2016-2020 and 2020-2024 terms. And then in 2021, she switched to the government party, the PRM and for the first time lost an election. She received only 45% of the vote in San Juan de la Maguana.
San Juan de la Maguana is known as the stronghold of the PLD and the People’s Force (FP) vote. It is the hometown of former two-term President Danilo Medina. It is also the hometown of San Juan de la Maguana senator Felix Bautista. Bautista was described as one of the most corrupt men in the world by Transparency International, but he is better known for his close ties to former three-term President Leonel Fernandez. Bautista has been senator for the terms 2010-2016, 2016-2020 (under the Leonel Fernandez and Danilo Medina governments) and 2020-2024 (under the Abinader government).
When Sanchez lost the PLD primary for the mayoralty candidacy in October 2019, she resigned the party to join the People’s Force of former President Fernandez. She then won the mayor position in the 2020 election. But then in 2021, she negotiated to become the candidate for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PLD). She would be defeated by the PLD candidate.
De la Rosa had first ran for mayor in 2020 for the PLD but lost to Hanoi Sanchez of the People’s Force. Born on 30 October 1986 in San Juan de la Maguana, he studied grade school and high school in his hometown and then civil engineering at the state UASD university. He has a construction company.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
Biography Hanoi Sanchez
Diario Libre
Paso a paso
20 February 2024