US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO668

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 000668 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA AND DRL 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA 
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ELECTIONS #20: HURRAH FOR HIPOLITO 
 
REF: SANTO DOMINGO 0630 
 
1. (SBU) Following is no. 20 in our Dominican presidential 
election series: 
 
      HURRAH FOR HIPOLITO, THE PRD CANDIDATE 
 
As exprected, President Hipolito Mejia was acclaimed as the 
PRD's presidential candidate by thousands of delegates and 
government employees reportedly bused in at the party's 
official "Twentieth Extraordinary Assembly" on January 31. 
None of the other PRD presidential contenders participated. 
Chaired by former president (1982-86) Salvador Jorge Blanco, 
the assembly removed outspoken anti-reelectionist PRD party 
president Hatuey De Camps and replaced him with Director 
General of Customs Vicente Sanchez Baret, a Mejia loyalist, 
until November, when a permanent official would normally be 
chosen.  Tourism Minister Rafael "Fello" Subervi, although 
absent from the assembly, was allowed to retain his post as 
PRD secretary general.  No vice presidential candidate was 
announced, so some speculate "Fello" is in the running. (He 
denies it.) 
 
The latest advance in the President's determined drive for 
re-election drew fire from various quarters.  Cardinal 
Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez admonished the 
public at a Youth Day mass the same day that "Mejia's 
re-election bid in no way benefits the Dominican people and 
is going to weigh heavily on the President, his family, and 
the country." 
 
Mejia's main opponents in the PRD were acerbic.  Subervi said 
that the assembly's decision would make permanent the split 
in the party, and Vice President Milagros Ortiz-Bosch in a 
long, eloquent written apologia in local papers lamented the 
"high cost I have paid."  Ousted party president De Camps 
declared the assembly "a farce" and threatened to challenge 
its legality before the Supreme Court.  At the opening 
baseball game of the four-nation Caribbean Series on February 
1, the capacity crowd in Quisqueya Stadium could be heard on 
television booing President Mejia as he tossed the first 
pitch. 
 
Meanwhile, Mejia's PPH faction continued to push the "law of 
slogans" electoral law revision through Congress -- the next 
maneuver in his strategy to ensure that he gets to the second 
round of the elections to confront current front runner 
Leonel Fernandez (PLD).  Following the first favorable Senate 
vote January 29, a committee of senators was set to meet with 
the Central Election Board (JCE) on February 2 to gather 
information on the practical difficulties of implementing 
such a legal change so close to the May 16 first round. 
Mejia's steamroller should get final approval by the 
PRD/PPH's crushing majority in the Senate, but will encounter 
rougher terrain in the Chamber of Deputies, where the PRD has 
less than a majority.  JCE Elections Director Gilberto Cruz 
Erasme told us February 2 that the bill, if passed, would be 
"extremely disruptive" to preparations for the election, 
which at present are on track and on schedule.  A cabinet 
member confirmed to the Ambassador and DCM on February 2 that 
Mejia would submit the law, if passed, to the Supreme Court 
for a call on its constitutionality. 
 
The PRD delegates' assembly is aimed at giving the President 
his first boost and his initial momentum.  But the road is a 
long and steep one.  Mejia will be counting on the PRD's 
structure as a party of the masses to get this campaign goin