Opposition party leaders maneuver as pitched battles loom

Santo Domingo.- Opposition PRD party president Miguel Vargas has opted to keep mum on mounting calls for him to step down, in the heels of Sunday’s election lost by its ex presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía.

Some deputies and leaders have requested Vargas’ expulsion for alleged “high treason,” though reminiscent of the party’s pitched inner battles which splintered it prior to the polls in 1986 and 1990.

After meeting with supporters Friday Mejía immediately went to Congress to speak with the deputies of his faction, and said he would assume the opposition’s leadership.

Vargas, who has yet to respond on the new internal crisis, met with PRD deputies and with other close collaborators yesterday, when he instructed Santiago deputy Giovanny Tejada to respond to the allegations against him.

Both Mejía and Vargas competed for the presidential candidacy in the convention of March last year, but their relations deteriorated to the point that they never met during the race and now struggle to gain control of the party.