Responding to what he called a “smear campaign” by elements in the two main parties, PRSC Presidential candidate Eduardo Estrella denied that he was being manipulated by President Hipolito Mejia and his re-election campaign machine, the PPH. These statements follow suggestions that it was Mejia who encouraged him to seek a meeting with his rival Jacinto Peynado, an idea that was reportedly rebuffed by the disgruntled former pre-Presidential hopeful, who is still undergoing medical treatment in the US. “Eduardo Estrella does not take orders from anyone, I am a very independent person with my own policies and credentials, what happens is that the tree that bears the fruit is the one that gets stones thrown at it,” he said during a phone call to the “Hoy Mismo” show yesterday. The former Santiago senator said furthermore that the smear campaign against him included allegations that he was being groomed as Mejia’s running mate in the coming elections, that he was receiving economic support and that his wife and the President’s were related. He refuted all these claims, saying they only served to harm the President and the opposition PLD. <\/p>\n
For his part, Peynado’s disillusionment with the situation is reflected by the quote in Diario Libre’s “Vaya Perla” slot: “In these elections we will have to choose between the bad and the less bad.” <\/p>\n
A recent Penn Schoen poll showed Estrella in second place in voters’ hearts with 16% support, behind Leonel Fernandez with 65% and President Hipolito Mejia in third place with 13%. Last year, President Mejia took credit for Estrella winning his candidacy, when he admitted that PPH members supported Estrella over his rival, Jacinto Peynado. <\/p>\n
The presidential election in the DR is scheduled for 16 May 2004.<\/p>\n
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Responding to what he called a “smear campaign” by elements in the two main parties, PRSC Presidential candidate Eduardo Estrella denied that he was being manipulated by President Hipolito Mejia and his re-election campaign machine, the PPH. These statements follow suggestions that it was Mejia who encouraged him to seek a meeting with his rival … <\/p>\n