Hoy newspaper comments on how both the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano and the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, the nation’s two majority political parties, are trying all means to convince former President Joaquín Balaguer to endorse their candidate in the 2000 presidential election. Balaguer is expected to run for President and lose in the first round. Neither the PRD or the PLD are expected to garner the necessary 50%+1 of the vote to win in the first round. Thus, Balaguer’s endorsement of either the PRD or the PLD candidate in the second round is crucial. Hoy comments that so far, the PLD maneuvered to support the PRSC candidate to preside the Dominican Municipal League, the organization that regulates and handles government allocations to city governments. And the PRD recently said it would vote for whomever Balaguer chose to preside the Chamber of Deputies. They are also offering the PRSC thousands of jobs in city governments around the country. The PRD won most of the city governments in the 1998 municipal elections. Likewise, the PRD hopes to entice Balaguer with the bait of voting for a PRSC man or woman to preside several of the city government boards. Balaguer will be 93 in September and is blind.
