A Hamilton & Staff survey commissioned by Hoy newspaper showed that Vice President Jaime David Fernández Mirabal is the favored Partido de la Liberación Dominicana politician for the presidential candidacy of year 2000. President Leonel Fernández is the party’s leading politician, but he is constitutionally impaired from running for re-election in year 2000. Secretary of the Presidency, Danilo Medina is the third most popular candidate. When asked who do you think should be the presidential candidate for the government party, those interviewed answered: Leonel Fernández 31%, Jaime David Fernández 17%, Danilo Medina 6%, Felucho Jiménez 5%, Euclides Gutiérrez 4%, Norge Botello 4%. 19% of those interviewed said they do not know. When President Fernández was eliminated from the list, Vice President Fernández received 26% of the vote, versus 8% of runner up Danilo Medina. The good-looking Vice President received 29% of the vote of women, and 23% of the vote of the men. Danilo Medina received 10% of the vote of the men, and 7% of the vote of the women. Vice President Jaime David Fernández, 41 years old, is a former senator for Salcedo. He is a psychiatrist by profession who studied farming before graduating as a doctor. He entered the PLD in 1979. He has maintained a low political profile as Vice President of the Republic. Danilo Medina is from San Juan de la Maguana. The today Secretary of the Presidency as a PLD congressman in 1996 played a key role in the negotiations that led to the reduction of the last presidency of Joaquín Balaguer to two years, prohibition of re-election and establishment of the constitutional reform whereby 50%+1 of the vote is needed to win the presidency of the Republic. He is 42 years old. He lead the presidential campaign for the PLD that took Leonel Fernández to the presidency. He is one of the closest aides of the President and is considered the preferred man of the President to represent the party in the year 2000 elections. He entered the party in 1973 and is a member of its political and central committees. He was a congressman for almost eight years and is known as a fine political strategist. The Hamilton survey was carried out 5-12 June and some 1,000 persons were interviewed, 31% of which reside in Santo Domingo, 10% in Santiago and 31% in the North (excluding Santiago), 17% in the South and 10% in the East.
