DR Election Watch - 2006

[something_of_the_night]

So, what has been made of fact that Hatuey was absent?

Coincidence or carefully orchestrated?

-The Kid

[aegap]

IN Puerto Plata

In Santo Domingo (Districto Nacional),

BlogWorkOrange

El comando de campaña, ayer atiborrado de lambones con corbatas rosadas, amaneció desolado. En la mesa afiches que quedaron sin paloelús; platos foam untados de cachú; migajas de papas fritas y tostones y cueros de picapollo; un teléfono sonando sin nadie con deseos de contestar. Afuera un guachimán duerme bajo los acordes melancólicos de una bachata.

El candidato a síndico está bajo painkillers, no come nada sólido desde el primer cotejo de las actas. Su mamá llora lágrimas verdaderas, no de colirios para anuncios y dramas televisados; está sentada al lado de la cama de su hijo, con la esposa y una tía que vino de Nueva York a celebrar el seguro triunfo de acuerdo a una encuesta pagada a miles de pesos por cada opinión favorable.

Millones de pesos en publicidad, ..

[Mirador]

Originally Posted by aegap

IN Puerto Plata

In Santo Domingo (Districto Nacional),


....

El comando de campaña, ayer atiborrado de lambones con corbatas rosadas, amaneció desolado. En la mesa afiches que quedaron sin paloelús; platos foam untados de cachú; migajas de papas fritas y tostones y cueros de picapollo; un teléfono sonando sin nadie con deseos de contestar. Afuera un guachimán duerme bajo los acordes melancólicos de una bachata.

El candidato a síndico está bajo painkillers, no come nada sólido desde el primer cotejo de las actas. Su mamá llora lágrimas verdaderas, no de colirios para anuncios y dramas televisados; está sentada al lado de la cama de su hijo, con la esposa y una tía que vino de Nueva York a celebrar el seguro triunfo de acuerdo a una encuesta pagada a miles de pesos por cada opinión favorable. ...

According to informed sources, Mr Pacheco spent upwards of RD$200 million in his unsuccessful electoral bid for Mayor of Santo Domingo. A good point of discussion is why being Mayor of the Capital is of such political importance....

...

[RHM]

Originally Posted by Mirador

US Ambassador Hans Hertell has just finalized a meeting with JCE President Luis Arias, and according to the former, the later has assured him that the vote count will proceed...

.....

Damn gringos interfering again.

Scandall

[aegap]

.............

The Current Congress
(2002 Election)

The Current Congress
(2002 Election)

.........

2004 Presidential Election:




(Leonel Fernandez Won)

[Ken]

Originally Posted by Rick Snyder

My take on the situation is that the alliance orchestrated by the PRD and RRSC is the major reason that the PRD lost by so much in this election due to the break up of votes because they couldn't agree on who should be running for which positions. As the PPH is supposed to be part of the PRD but seems to be on an agenda different then the PRD this only helped in the destruction of their holding of the reigns.

I see in the news this afternoon that one of the vice presidents of the PRD is requesting the resignation of the leaders of the PRD and instructing Hippo to stay the hell away from the political process.

They should have moved against Hippo a long time ago. The polls have been reporting for months that he is the most disliked, distrusted person in the country.

As far as the election results are concerned, I think that this election would have been lost by PLD only if they committed some horrendous blunder in the last days. PRD lost the election through corruption, skyrocking exchange rate, inflation, etc., etc.

The polls have also been showing that Leonel is well liked and trusted. The people gave him a big margin in the presidencial election and were ready to back him in this one.

The big winner today is Leonel. He will also be the loser in two years if he doesn't now put his majority to good use. The newly elected lawmakers will support him because they know they road into office on his coat tails.

[Rick Snyder]

Ken,

All that you said is very true and only time will tell if the president does in fact do the right thing. As to Hippo I honestly believe that he was too powerful and too many people feared him but now with the disaster that the PRD is faced with I think they are finally getting brave enough to fight back.

Rick

[macocael]

Originally Posted by Ken

They should have moved against Hippo a long time ago. The polls have been reporting for months that he is the most disliked, distrusted person in the country.

As far as the election results are concerned, I think that this election would have been lost by PLD only if they committed some horrendous blunder in the last days. PRD lost the election through corruption, skyrocking exchange rate, inflation, etc., etc.

The polls have also been showing that Leonel is well liked and trusted. The people gave him a big margin in the presidencial election and were ready to back him in this one.

The big winner today is Leonel. He will also be the loser in two years if he doesn't now put his majority to good use. The newly elected lawmakers will support him because they know they road into office on his coat tails.

Quite right Ken. I agree. Now we have to see what the PLD will do with its political capital. but I think these elections, despite low turnout, represent a change of thinking among people, a disgust with the old way of doing business, and a belief in the ideas of people like Leonel. I covered the elections for Clave and Clave Digital in the Cibao, and I saw this everywhere we went, massive rejection of the PRD and all it stands for, significant numbers of people migrating to the PLD, including several politicians, who have all realized that the future lies with the PLD, and of course the young people, who solidly backed the PLD as well. many people were drafted into working with the PRD, my own wife among them, because they were throwing money around like nuts (Pacheco's campaign the most egregious example among them, but on our tour we ran into all sorts of irregularities as the PRD made a last ditch effort to reach voters), but these very people bit the hand that fed them when it came to the vote. Moreover, the PRD's general infighting, its fractured leadership, its inability to field substantive ideas and effective campaigns, resorting instead to the usual demogogic tactics, in the end worked against them.

Well things are shaky, but the PLD certainly has a hell of a mandate, and I hope they dont squander it.

[Ken]

Originally Posted by macocael

Well things are shaky, but the PLD certainly has a hell of a mandate, and I hope they dont squander it.

So do I.

Your's was a very good post. Good to get the insight of a close observer of the election.