Ruling party crack spreads as ex-president ‘hurls soap on reelection stew’

Santo Domingo.- The lawmakers who support president Danilo Medina’s reelection bid on Tuesday warned the constitutional reform will proceed regardless of former president Leonel Fernandez’s observations during Monday night’s speech, which a veteran politico called hurling soap on the president’s reelection stew.”

They said the former president knows perfectly well that the requirements to amend the Constitution aren’t found within it.

"I will not make any statement that means hurling fuel to anything resembling fire because we in the PLD (ruling party) prefer to proceed with all the legal, to the dimension of legitimacy that the president Danilo has," said deputy Rafael Calderon.

He also affirmed that Fernandez has apparently forgot he’s the president of the PLD, which he affirms already decided to amend the Constitution to allow two consecutive presidential terms and never again.

Calderon called on Fernandez to accept the ruling party’s decision.

The situation has apparently pushed the PLD into further internal turmoil, once the lawmakers who support Fernandez have voiced strong opposition to vote for a reform without referendum and without a law in the books to be considered statutory.