The Partido de la Liberación Dominicana members attributed the party’s poor showing to errors at the end of the campaign – such as party secretary general Lidio Cadet’s handling of the death of Air Force General Luis Santiago Pérez at the hands of PLD fanatics, and the untimely statement of President Leonel Fernández during a meeting of international intellectuals in which he favored an increase of taxes. Both errors were capitalized by the PRD. The PLD said that their former ally PRSC’s anti-PLD campaign slogan, "los come sólos," caught on and played on the arrogance of several government officers and PLD politicians. Dr. Joaquín Balaguer campaigned himself in Santiago during the final days of the campaign urging Reformistas to vote for "rice and beans, but not with eggplant (the purple color of the vegetable was in reference to the PLD). Balaguer in the 1996 presidential elections urged his followers to vote for the PLD. The PRSC subtle support of the PRD is said to be responsible for the PRD victories in La Vega, San Cristóbal and Santiago, for example. Others say that the PLD directors felt that with money all could be achieved. The PLD spent millions in this campaign hoping to position its candidates.
