The PLD rank and file is becoming increasingly concerned as to when the next meeting of the Political Committee (CP) will be held. It is now more than six months since the last meeting and no one knows when it will meet again to discuss the presidential candidates for the 2016 elections. Advocates of changing the 2010 Constitution to allow presidential consecutive re-election believe that since the ruling PLD party holds the majority in Congress, the party’s decision will establish whether re-election will be reintroduced.
In 2011, the Constitution was changed to allow then President Leonel Fernandez to run again. According to the current Constitution, Fernandez can run for office in 2016, unlike incumbent President Medina, as consecutive re-election is banned.
The last formal meeting of the influential committee took place in December 2014 but it was a social event with no formal agenda.
In January 2015, PLD president Leonel Fernandez said that he would convene the committee, but this has not happened. Later, PLD General Secretary Reinaldo Pared Perez said that the CP would meet before the end of February but there is still no date for the meeting.
Traditionally the CP chooses its pre-candidates in March and gives them three months for their internal campaigns for the presidential nomination. This is the longest gap there has ever been between PLD Political Committee meetings.
There is speculation that this situation has arisen as a result of the standoff between the Leonel Fernandez and Danilo Medina camps.