Press Review

Dominican Republic Gets Female Candidate

Dominican Republic's Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch speaks to her supporters during a campaign rally at the Sports' Palace in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in this Sunday, June 1, 2003 file photo. Ortiz is running for the nomination of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, which will be a challenge given she has seven male competitors, one of whom is President Hipolito Mejia. But beyond clinching the nomination, Ortiz faces another hurdle before she even reaches the May elections. TheDominican Republic is known for its sexually aggressive men, high rates of domestic violence and tradition of machismo that has long prevailed in the halls of the legislature. (AP Photo/Maglio Perez, file)

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By PETER PRENGAMAN
Associated Press Writer
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic
Apart from the cigar-smoking candidates bidding for the Dominican Republic's presidency stands a silver-haired grandmother who wants to be the country's next leader.

Already vice president, Milagros Ortiz Bosch holds an automatic advantage over most of her competitors, but in the male-dominated world of Dominican politics, gender may be her biggest liability.

"I'm not a pretty woman, or a model," the 67-year-old Ortiz told The Associated Press, steadying her gold spectacles. "I'm a woman of politics. The world is ready to accept the full participation of women in politics."

But what about the Dominican Republic?

The first test for Ortiz ahead of the May election will be getting a nomination from her Dominican Revolutionary Party, which will be a challenge given she has seven male competitors, including President Hipolito Mejia.

Known for its pristine beaches, resorts and hypnotizing meringue beats, the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking country of 8.7 million people, also has high rates of domestic violence and a tradition of machismo that has long prevailed in the halls of the legislature.

Only 25 of 150 representatives in the lower house of Congress and only two of 32 senators are women in the Caribbean nation, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

"Women are very soft," said Ricardo Alberto, 31, a computer technician. "Men are the ones who have the strong hand."

"Men always say that," snapped his wife, Claribel.

Ortiz is used to standing out among her male colleagues. Refined and articulate, she holds a Ph.D. in law and is a careful orator. Mejia, the current president, is a farmer with an associate degree in agronomy who often responds to questions in a brutish tone, calling critics "donkeys."

Before Ortiz became vice president, she was a senator for six years, pushing a series of laws against domestic violence.

Mejia, 62, whose major political experience came as Agricultural Minister in the late 1970s, won a landslide victory in 2000 with Ortiz as a running mate but has lost popularity for his failure to boost the Dominican economy and correct its electricity crisis.

Gas prices have gone up, power shortages have increased and the Dominican peso has lost more than half of its value against the dollar.

Some in Mejia's own party oppose his re-election bid. Party rules prohibit a president from running for a second term, but Mejia has said he plans on running in the May elections despite the rule.

A handful of polls since January have shown Mejia losing badly in a general election against Dominican Liberation Party candidate Leonel Fernandez, president of the country between 1996 and 2000.

The last poll, taken by Penn, Schoen & Berland in mid-October, found Fernandez winning with 58 percent compared to 20 percent for Mejia. The poll interviewed 1,200 people and had a 2.5 percent margin of error.

If Ortiz replaced Mejia, poll results showed her getting 22 percent of the vote with Fernandez still winning by a landslide.

"There are two possible scenarios," said Pedro Catrain, a political scientist and author. "Either the president is going to use his power to force the party to re-elect him, or Ortiz will get a chance to give the party a new image."

As vice president, Ortiz has taken the double role as Minister of Education, a move analysts say was intended to show voters she wasn't content to sit on the sidelines of a largely ceremonial position.

She has been careful about criticizing Mejia too strongly, saying the government's failures also rest on her shoulders.

Mukien Sang Ben, political history professor at the Universidad Pontificia Catolica Madre y Maestra in Santo Domingo, says Ortiz has the education and experience to be a successful president.

She also has name recognition. Her uncle was Juan Bosch, a son of the middle class who went on to become a president who fought for the poor.

But Ben says that isn't enough.

"Unfortunately, the country isn't prepared to have a woman president," she said. "It's still a sexist country."

Meanwhile, Ortiz - already campaigning with the slogan, "Milagros is better" - says that so far, gender hasn't been an issue.

"I don't let myself be discriminated against," she said. "I've learned to manage myself with men and keep my self-respect, which is an art."