Meanwhile, Federico Antún Batlle, political secretary of the PRSC, announced that only last minute details are missing for the PRSC and the PRD to announce an alliance for the municipal and congressional elections. Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez, leader of the PRD, confirmed an imminent alliance on Sunday, 15 February, when he stated during the event to proclaim his candidacy for mayor of Santo Domingo, that if the party would choose an ally in the election, it would be the PRSC. Antún Batlle was one of the sponsors of the political alliance of the PRSC with the government party, the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD), which took that party to power in the 1996 presidential election. Antún Batlle’s family is under investigation for corruption in the handling of the National Lottery. Brother Manuel Antún Batlle was jailed but later released. Several others are still in jail for the scandal. Recently, District Attorney Francisco Domínguez announced new evidence in the case involving the Antún Batlle brothers’ father, a former administrator of the National Lottery, and other former administrators accused of rigging the lottery calls.
