Political analyst Pedro Catrain criticized former President Hipolito Mejia’s apparent victory the PRD convention as the restoration of a candidate who has a paternalistic agenda from the last century. The university professor said: “Hipolito Mejia is selling a paternalistic society; Dad’s arrived! It is a symbol of 20th Century society,” he commented.<\/p>\n
Hipolito Mejia’s campaign to launch his candidacy was based on the slogan: “Dad’s arrived!”<\/p>\n
Interviewed on the El Bulevar con Pablo McKinney talk show, Catrain reminded the public about what he described as “the national collapse” when Mejia and his government led the nation in 2000-2004.<\/p>\n
“Hipolito does not have a proposal for Dominican society today,” he commented.<\/p>\n
He said that the greatest loser of the PRD convention is Miguel Vargas Maldonado because his political errors contributed to converting Mejia into a political figure that had lost after the disaster of his government and his attempt at re-election. In 2004, Mejia used his political majority in Congress to change the Constitution so he could run for re-election. He lost to President Leonel Fernandez. Then in 2009, President Leonel Fernandez and PRD leader Miguel Vargas Maldonado signed the “Pact of the Blue Ties” that allowed the change of the Constitution to allow him and Hipolito Mejia to run for President again. The 2010 Constitution bans consecutive re-election but eliminated the clause that permanently impeded a candidate who had been elected twice or run for re-election to run again.<\/p>\n
Catrain said that participation in the primary was significant but not massive. He said that five million people were entitled to vote, as reported in El Caribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Political analyst Pedro Catrain criticized former President Hipolito Mejia’s apparent victory the PRD convention as the restoration of a candidate who has a paternalistic agenda from the last century. The university professor said: “Hipolito Mejia is selling a paternalistic society; Dad’s arrived! It is a symbol of 20th Century society,” he commented. Hipolito Mejia’s campaign … <\/p>\n