DOMINICAN POLITICS III #21: FERNANDEZ ANNOUNCES

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000685 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, INR/IAA; USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV DR SUBJECT: DOMINICAN POLITICS III #21: FERNANDEZ ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY, DEFENDS RE-ELECTION ¶1. (U) This is the 21st cable in our series on Dominican politics in the third year of the administration of President Leonel Fernandez. (U) On March 25, Leonel Fernandez formally announced that he is running for re-election in 2008. The announcement, made at a rally in Santo Domingo, had been expected since February, when the political committee of Fernandez's Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) had put his name on the slate of three candidates for the PLD presidential primary to be held May 6. (SBU) Since the Fernandez's candidacy was already known, the media focused on the portion of the PLD leader's speech dedicated to defending the practice of presidential re-election. (Note: Opponents of re-election in the Dominican Republic are principally concerned with the use of government resources in political campaigns and the potential risk to democracy in a country that since 1930 has experienced the 31-year dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and the 22-year rule of strongman Joaquin Balaguer. End note.) Fernandez, who has occupied the Presidential Palace 1996-2000 and 2004-present, said that he was aware that the time would come when he would need to pass the torch to a successor, "but this historic moment has not yet arrived." He dismissed some critics as simply attempting to apply the local practice of "quitate tu para ponerme yo," i.e. removing Fernandez so that they themselves could occupy his position. (U) The President acknowledged that some Dominicans had developed more "subtle and sophisticated" arguments opposed to re-election. Noting that he had put a great deal of thought in the issue, Fernandez contrasted today's strong Dominican democracy with the political system of his authoritarian predecessors from the 19th and early 20th centuries. "If we link our history to these sinister figures, there is no doubt that re-election would be fatal for the Dominican Republic.... But today it is time for liberal democrats to close the authoritarian cycle, and it is the authentic democrats who will govern and consolidate democracy in this country." Fernandez also justified his actions in comparative terms, listing a series of world leaders who have run for re-election, including George Washington and Hugo Chavez. The President concluded by saying that his opponents should "stop (disorientating) the Dominican people -- re-election is an inherent part of the democratic system." (U) The response to the President's speech from the opposition Reformista Party (PRSC),whose leader Joachin Balaguer was president 1966-1978 and 1986-1996, was to be expected. Secretary-General Victor Gomez Casanova pointed out that both the PLD and the opposition Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) were instrumental in enacting a constitutional ban on re-election following Balaguer's contested election victory in 1994. However, the PRD pushed through an amendment to reverse the re-election ban in 2002, and now the PLD is putting up a candidate for a second term. (SBU) COMMENT: Despite the fact that presidential re-election is common throughout the world, 48 percent of Dominicans oppose the practice, according to reliable polling data. We suspect that this is one of the reasons why Fernandez's high approval rating (64 percent) is not matched by the PLD's lead over the PRD in early polls of the presidential race (5 percent). -- Drafted by Peter Hemsch ¶2. (U) This report and extensive other material can be consulted on our SIPRNET site, http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ HERTELL