The Partido Revolucionario Dominicano has chosen to hold a new election in Santo Domingo to select the mayor of the city, after a committee determined there were irregularities in the 14 December primary. The election will take place during the third week of January and the members of the 142 voting centers where irregularities occurred will have to vote again. Of 100,000 votes cast, almost 10% were annulled. The decision does not affect the choices for congressional members. In Santo Domingo, Milagros Ortiz Bosch will be the PRD candidate for senator. The PRD is the leading opposition party. In a preliminary count, Luis Mariñez, the candidate who had the support of city mayor Rafael Suberví Bonilla, was ahead by about 1,500 votes. Political analysts pointed out the large absenteeism and the lack of interest of city voters in the primaries, as all three candidates obtained barely over 30,000 votes of a possible 400,000, which Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez, leader of the party, had announced would be cast. The internal problems of the PRD reflect the interests of politicians Rafael Suberví, Hipólito Mejía and Hatuey de Camps in inheriting the leadership of the party, in the possible future absence of Dr. Peña Gómez, seriously ill with cancer.
