Danilo Medina, president of the Dominican Liberation Party (Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, PLD), has drawn a line for his party's leadership race, saying the PLD will back whoever wins the internal consultation set for October 18. But Abel Martínez, who chose not to take part in that vote, has warned he will keep travelling the country and will challenge whichever candidate comes out on top.
Medina's message from the party presidency was aimed at closing ranks around a single candidate before the vote. Martínez, however, is keeping his ambitions for the 2028 elections alive, continuing his nationwide tour even though he is staying out of the October 18 contest.
A party with a long history
The PLD is one of the Dominican Republic's oldest and most influential political parties, founded in 1973 by Juan Bosch. It governed the country for years, including under Medina himself, who served as president of the Dominican Republic from 2012 to 2020, before losing power to Luis Abinader of the Partido Revolucionario Moderno. Medina remains one of the party's leading figures.
Martínez is the mayor of Santiago de los Caballeros, the country's second-largest city and a major economic and cultural hub in the Cibao region, and has emerged as one of the PLD's most visible figures outside the current leadership.
The party's internal tension has been described as a disturbed purple beehive, purple being the PLD's traditional colour, with the mood inside the party remaining unsettled even as its leadership pushes for unity ahead of the October 18 vote.
No resolution is expected before the October 18 consultation determines who will lead the PLD's next presidential bid, with the party's declared push for unity still being tested by Martínez's continued campaigning.
