It all seemed too good to be true. The election was so uneventful, it almost wasn’t newsworthy until it suddenly became apparent that the decision wasn’t clear-cut and the bulletins adopted a turtle pace. As a result, 36 hours after the polls had closed the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential elections had not been clarified. Two question marks hovered over the result. The first question was whether the PRD ticket headed by Hipolito Mejia would win a clear first round victory with a vote total of 50% +1 of the votes cast. The second question was whether the PLD, whose candidate Danilo Medina, squeaked into second place with a feeble .29% lead over rival Joaquin Balaguer’s PRSC, would exercise its constitutional privilege to demand a run-off election. With virtually all of the votes tabulated by Wednesday night, Mejia’s total of 1,589,419 gave 49.86%, and so he would need an additional 4,000 votes to reach the constitutionally mandated minimum. The Central Elections Board (JCE) announced it set to work to re-examine the 46,039 votes that for one reason or another were disqualified. Meanwhile, everyone seemed to have taken Mejia’s victory as a foregone conclusion. The tempo of life appeared to be returning to normal, as schools re-opened after a three-day election holiday. In Santo Domingo, and other cities, traffic once more clogged the major intersections as most employees have now returned from their polling stations in outlying provinces. Crews could even be seen dismantling political signs and placards in many locations. Mejia proclaimed himself the winner before midnight on election day, and has been giving TV interviews in which he describes the "government of national unity" over which he will preside. PRD partisans staged spontaneous and a few planned celebrations throughout the country. The capital’s streets are filled flag-waving, horn- blowing, smiling followers of the 59-year old Mejia, who are savoring the taste of victory after 16 years out of power. The aura of victory increased when Rafaela Albuquerque, speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, walked directly out of meeting with Balaguer and told reporters that the nonagenarian ex-president congratulated Mejia on his electoral triumph. Later in the day, Balaguer received Mejia in his home, providing a photo op of the seemingly happy pair shaking hands. At the same time, Balaguer’s vice presidential running mate, Jacinto Peynado, was talking cautiously to reporters about the need to await "official" announcements. However, the "officials" themselves appeared to be swept up in the Mejia tide, as well. Surrounded by solemn-looking JCE judges, the JCE president, Ramon Manuel Morel Cerda, told a press conference on Wednesday evening that Mejia’s vote total was moving in an "ascending direction," although it is "not officially documented," as yet. This produced an angry response from José Tomás Pérez, Executive Secretary of the PLD Party, who denounced the "extra-official" comments of Morel Cerda which, he said, fly in the face of the Constitution and the national elections law. Perez insisted that no result could be regarded as official until the final election bulletin has been published. He also appealed to Mejia to call a halt to the noisy, informal victory celebrations of his adherents. Mejia’s first post-electoral act was to join his running mate, Milagros Ortiz Bosch, in leading a pilgrimage to the tomb of Jose Francisco Peña Gomez. It was the death of the charismatic PRD leader and perennial presidential candidate, a victim of cancer almost exactly two years ago, that paved the way for Mejia’s emergence. Standing before the tomb, Mejia swore an oath to act "with loyalty and honesty in managing the state." Surrounded by scores of his deliriously shouting followers, Mejia affirmed that "these hands will not be stained either by blood or money."
