A faction of the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) announced it would back the candidacy of Leonel Fernandez in the 2004 Presidential election. Former Vice-President Carlos Morales Troncoso, Donald Reid Cabral and Leonardo Matos Berrido announced their support of the PLD candidate at a political meeting held at the Hotel Jaragua yesterday. For his part, Fernandez thanked the PRSC leaders for their backing and said that a win for the PLD would be tantamount to a win for the PRSC.
Speaking at the event, Reid Cabral said the group had accepted Fernandez? offer to work for a government based on national unity. Morales Troncoso called for an alliance of all political and social forces to confront the crisis affecting the country, saying that such problems could not be solved by any political party or government working in isolation. He said they chose to ally with the PLD to include their best people in the next government and contribute to a national program based on consensus and that aimed to regenerate the economy, eradicate corruption, revitalize institutions and restore confidence and ethical and morality to public governance.
The decision is a repeat of the historic decision of the late President Joaquin Balaguer, who on 2 June 1996 announced he would throw his support behind Leonel Fernandez in a runoff election against PRD candidate Jose Francisco Pena Gomez. Pena Gomez had won the first round with 45.93% of the votes, compared to 38.94% for the PLD?s Fernandez and 14.99% for the PRSC?s own Jacinto Peynado, who had run without Balaguer?s support. Balaguer himself was barred by a constitutional reform from the Presidential race.
Peynado is currently convalescing in Miami, but has not endorsed fellow-PRSC member and Presidential candidate Eduardo Estrella for his party, alleging the presence of fraud in that primary election.
During the event at the Jaragua, a recording of Balaguer?s voice was played as he announced the historic 1996 alliance, known as the National Patriotic Front. PRSC and PLD members were reminded of the caudillo?s message, as he said then: ?The wrong road is closed, the candidacy of Leonel is the best option voters have because it is the only one that guarantees Dominicans a regime of civilized living.?
El Caribe says that while Peynado has been ambivalent, by not supporting or denying his support to the front, it points out that several prominent Peynado supporters attended the PLD-PRSC alliance announcement, including his wife?s cousin, Jose Rafael Alvarez, Ramon Bona Rivera, Amable Botello and former senator Jose Augusto Felix Matos.
Also present were PLD-alliance parties Fuerza Nacional Progresista (FNP), which was represented by Deputy Pelegrin Castillo, and Liberal La Estructura, represented by Andres Vanderhorst, among others.