DOMINICAN ELECTION # 40: FERNANDEZ CONFIDENT BUT

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TAGS: DR PGOV
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ELECTION # 40: FERNANDEZ CONFIDENT BUT
CONCERNED ABOUT FRAUD



1. (SBU) This is no. 40 in our series on the Dominican
presidential election:

FERNANDEZ CONCERNED ABOUT FRAUD BUT CONFIDENT IN ABILITY TO
RESTORE PROGRESS

On April 13 at luncheon with the Ambassador PLD presidential
candidate Leonel Fernandez spent the first third of the
encounter focusing on concerns over possible electoral fraud.
Fernandez then contrasted his previous administration and the
current PLD platform with the "flawed" Mejia administration.
Fernandez confirmed that if elected, he would maintain strong
relations with the United States.

With polls now showing the PLD margin lower than before,
Fernandez, VP candidate Rafael Albuquerque, advisor and 2000
presidential candidate Danilo Medina, and "ideologue"
Temistocleses Montas identified various relatively minor
technical problems with the electoral process, they avowed
themselves more concerned with President Mejia's
authoritarian tendencies. Fernandez went so far as to say
Mejia resembled dictator Trujillo in some ways and noted that
Mejia's father was named in honor of the dictator. Fernandez
warned that Mejia was using extensive public resources and
might employ intimidation tactics to ensure his reelection
bid.

The Ambassador outlined U.S measures to reinforce the
election process and shifted the conversation towards
perspectives of a PLD government toward the United States.
The PLD is the only major Dominican party to have published a
detailed platform, but its platform is noticeably vague with
respect to bilateral relations with the United States.
Fernandez emphasized that the Dominican Republic will be an
unconditional U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. He
will support existing cooperative efforts with the U.S.
government in areas such as extradition, counter-narcotics,
free trade, and trafficking in persons.

The tone of the PLD luncheon was positive and the content
generally substantive. Fernandez, a lawyer educated in the
United States, uses an intellectual social science
perspective to analyze Dominican politics. His positive
electoral prospects are due in large part to the positive
performance of the Dominican economy throughout his previous
administration -- results not entirely of his own making. The
PLD platform promises to promote economic growth while
enacting further modernization and privatization reforms.
Though concerned about the prospect of his main opponent
resorting dirty fighting in the final weeks, Fernandez
appears confident in his ability to recapture the presidency
and eventually to restore economic progress in the Dominican
Republic.


2. (U) Drafted by Clare Ribando.


3. (U) This report and others in this series can be read on
the SIPRNET at
http://www.state.gov/p/pwha/santodomingo/inde x.cfm
along with extensive other current material.
HERTELL