Former Presidents Danilo Medina (2012-2016 and 2016-2020) of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) and Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000, 2004-2008, 2008-2012) of the PLD dissident People’s Force Party (FP) met on Monday, 25 March 2024 during a Rescate RD political gathering at the Hotel Embajador. Also present were Abel Martinez and former Minister of Foreign Relations Miguel Vargas Maldonado. The four have agreed to a coalition of political parties to present joint candidacies. The four are running for President in the 19 May 2024 presidential and congressional election.
Vargas Maldonado read the joint press declaration. Questions were not asked and the media did not report on any close interactions between the two former Presidents. In the official photo of the meeting Medina and Fernandez have several other coalition members between them. During the event, there was no raising of hands by the two former Presidents.
The outcome of the coalition was exceptionally weak during its first run for the 18 February municipal election. The coalition did poorly in the municipal election of 18 February 2024, with the PLD, FP and PRD losing by much to the candidates presented by the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRD) that swept the municipal election.
The win was even greater in the Greater Santo Domingo and Santiago, the two largest voting plazas.
The separation of the PLD into two has not favored one or the other, with polls showing that the opposition parties are far behind the ruling political party.
The Rescate RD agreement was signed in August 2023, under the coordination of Miguel Vargas Maldonado. Vargas Maldonado of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) allied with the PLD when dissidents, former President Hipolito Mejia and today President Luis Abinader, left to form the today Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM).
One of the key candidacies of the Rescate RD coalition is that of Omar Fernandez, the son of former President Leonel Fernandez, who served a first term in government as deputy. Today he is running for senator for the National District on the ticket of the coalition of parties. His main contender is Guillermo Moreno, a former National District prosecutor during the Leonel Fernandez government who was removed by the latter and would go on to present evidence of major corruption in the governments of Leonel Fernandez. The National District prosecutor at the time, today adjunct prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso, filed the corruption cases.
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26 March 2024