Opposition party disconnect hobbles campaign

Santo Domingo.- The head of Dominican Republic’s major opposition party (PRD) Thursday said its presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía is entirely responsible for leading it to victory in May’s elections.

Miguel Vargas’ statement again brings to the fore the PRD leadership’s months-long disconnect, which has hobbled its campaign and jeopardized its possibility of returning to office after eight years in the opposition.

He said as president of the PRD, he plays his institutional part to defend the party’s acquired rights, and revealed that Mejia’s campaign has never invited him to any activity, as if he wasn’t member of that party.

He said his case is the opposite of what occurs with Leonel Fernandez who besides being president of the PLD party, is adviser of the candidate Danilo Medina’s campaign activities.

“We assumed the role of directing the party, to strengthen the PRD, to demand from the Government a series of conditions that the nation requires. Now, all the responsibility of leading the party to power, is evidently the candidate’s,” Vargas said, interviewed in the main salon of the Santo Domingo State University UASD.