Who will be the ruling Partido de la Liberación Dominicana presidential candidate for the 2000 election? The race is very close, with no one being able to tell who will win between Vice President Jaime David Fernández Mirabal and Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina. The primary, in which 12,500 PLD members will have the right to vote, will take place Sunday, 27 June starting 10 am throughout the country. A vote of 50%+1 is necessary to win in a first round. Polls held prior to the race are divided between one and the other. The contenders are: Vice President Jaime David Fernández MirabalForty-two year old Jaime David Fernández Mirabal was born in Ojo de Agua, Salcedo. He is the son of Jaime Fernández and Bélgica Adela Mirabal (Doña Dedé). His mother is the surviving sister of the Mirabal sisters (Minerva, Maria Teresa and Patria) that were murdered during the final days of the Trujillo regime. Their murder is said to have detonated the wrath of Dominicans that led to the eventual assassination of the dictator in 1961. They are seen as national heroines. He graduated as an agronomist from the Instituto Superior de Agriculture in Santiago. He decided against making a living in farming, and went on to study medicine, graduating from INTEC in Santo Domingo. His social service vocation overcame his family’s reticence of his joining political activities, and in 1978, he joined the PLD of Professor Juan Bosch. In the early 80s he lived in Spain for three years, where he specialized in mental health at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. He is remembered for his work to help Dominican immigrants. He then traveled to Italy, where he continued to specialize in psychiatry at the University of Trieste. Thereafter, he traveled to Germany where he participated in a six-month youth social rehabilitation program. Working with European Union and United Nations youth social rehabilitation programs, he was sent to Greece and Costa Rica, and thereafter to New York City. In 1988 he married pediatrician Lissy Campos. They have three children, Adriana and twins Anton David and Carmen Adela. In 1990 and 1994 he was elected senator for his native province of Salcedo. The community self-development programs he organized in his home province have been recognized by the United Nations and used as models in other countries. He became a member of the Central Committee of the PLD in 1990, and was elected to the Political Committee in 1990. In 1995, PLD presidential candidate Leonel Fernández chose Fernández Mirabal as his running mate. As Vice President he has been in charge of the Quisqueya Verde, a very successful tree planting forestry effort and has also represented the President in international summits. His wife, Lissy Campos, is a public figure on her own. She has received very good press for her role as First Lady in several international events. She has been host to visiting First Ladies during several international heads of state summits held in the DR. President Leonel Fernández could have delegated the role to his sisters, like President Balaguer did in his days, but preferred to delegate upon Lissy Campos who coincidentally is "Mrs. Fernández". Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina Forty-eight year old Danilo Medina was born in Arroyo Cano, San Juan de la Maguana, in the southwest of the country. He is the oldest of eight brothers born of the Juan Pablo Medina and Amelia Sánchez. He graduated in 1972 as a chemical engineer from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. Since he was 18 years old he was a student leader, founding the San Juan de la Maguana branch of the Frente Revolucionario Estudiantil Nacionalista at the UASD. When Professor Juan Bosch founded the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana in 1973, Medina joined him. He studied a second career in economics at INTEC, and graduated magna cum laude in 1984. He has been a member of the Central Committee of the PLD since 1983. In 1986 election he was elected a deputy in Congress. In 1987, he married psychologist Cándida Montilla and has three daughters, Sybelis, Vanessa and Ana Paula. As president of the Chamber of Deputies in the National Congress (1990-94), he was a key figure in congressional negotiations that led to the resolving of the 1994 political impasse. In that year, a close finish between Joaquín Balaguer and José Francisco Peña Gómez brought about a major conflict, as one side accused the other of fraud. The conflict was resolved with a pact that instituted separate presidential and congressional elections, the need for a candidate to receive 50%+1 of the vote to win in a first round, and prohibited presidential re-election. The agreement eventually worked in favor of the PLD, which won the presidential in the 1996 election, with Leonel Fernández defeating José Francisco Peña Gómez in a second round. Danilo Medina is considered the PLD leading political strategist and negotiator. As such, he was the one of the brains behind the presidential campaign of today President Fernández. He was appointed Secretary of the Presidency in 1996 and is one of the President’s closest aides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who will be the ruling Partido de la Liberación Dominicana presidential candidate for the 2000 election? The race is very close, with no one being able to tell who will win between Vice President Jaime David Fernández Mirabal and Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina. The primary, in which 12,500 PLD members will have the … <\/p>\n