Candidates on hunger strike show signs of weakening

Santo Domingo.- Manuel Jimenez, Dio Astacio, and RafaelRosso candidates for mayor of the city Santo Domingo Este, and for deputyClaudio Caamaño, are already showing signs of weakening on their third day of ahunger strike to protest the result of the May 15 general elections.

Jimenez, mayoral candidate of the minority coalition FrenteAmplio, was forbidden to speak by the doctors attend him.

In a 37-point document quoted by diariolibre.com, theFrente Amplio candidate maintains he was the victim of an alleged fraud, andthe reason he demands new elections.

Deputy Mayor hopeful Nelsy Trinidad says one of the reasonsJimenez demands a new election is the fact that 430 voting boxes arrived at theMunicipal Electoral Board two days after the polls, "the Municipal Board couldn’tgive an explanation for this either."

The Central Electoral Board’s latest municipal elections resultshas ruling PLD party candidate Alfredo Martinez as the winner with 158,198votes, (43.71 percent), whereas Jimenez obtained 82,744 votes, or 22.86 percent.