Political analysts have been commenting that the self-proclamation of Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez, leader of the PRD, as candidate for mayor of Santo Domingo, as a solution to the crisis in that opposition party, could become a greater problem than what it is hoping to resolve. Peña Gómez has admitted that because of his health condition (he suffers from cancer of the pancreas), he will not be able to fully exercise as mayor and if he wins the election he will have to delegate on the vice mayor. Thus the focus is now on who will be the candidate for that post. On Thursday, 8 January, President Leonel Fernández converted into law, 23-98, the bill that institutes the position of vice mayor, eliminating a substitute for the post. As per the law, however, the vice mayor was given similar responsibilities as those assigned to the substitute. It was initially thought that the vice mayor would be assigned the responsibility for an area of the city. The new law merely states that the vice mayor will replace the mayor in his absence. Furthermore, the law establishes that the vice mayor’s responsibilities will be those assigned by the mayor. The vice mayor will be elected in the same election as the mayor for a four year period. The post will be effective as of August 1998.
