Julio Maríñez, president of the Dominican Municipal League, and who hoped to win the Partido Revolucionario Dominican nomination for mayor of Santo Domingo in the May 1998 municipal elections, said yesterday that the self-proclamation of Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez as candidate for mayor Santo Domingo has done away with that party’s internal democracy. Peña Gómez used his extraordinary powers to come up with a solution after not accepting the slim margin with which Maríñez had won the primary, held to choose the party’s candidate for mayor of Santo Domingo. Peña self-proclaimed himself and then chose merengue maestro and former congressman Johnny Ventura as the candidate for vice mayor. The position of vice mayor for the PRD is especially important, given Peña Gómez’s frail health. "Peña Gómez imposed the candidate to vice mayor and I am accepting because I am not going to confront the leader," said Maríñez. "I will accept, but I hope that in the future the popular vote is respected without the need for the use of special powers," he said. He also said that in the future he hoped the statutes of the party would be respected.
