Hot Moments in a Dead Heat

On the eve of the June 1 elections, the Dominican Republic came close to losing both its major candidates. Last week Leftist Juan Bosch--who, out of fear of assassination, has left his Santo Domingo home only twice since he returned from exile eight months ago--took to the radio for his daily, tape-recorded, half-hour broadcast, and threatened to withdraw from the campaign unless the government's right-wing military stopped terrorizing pro-Bosch campesinos in the countryside. The next day, Interim President Hector Garcia-Godoy announced formation of a commission to look into the Bosch charges, then ordered the armed forces to their barracks. "The crisis has been resolved," Bosch beamed, and promptly jumped back into the race.

The withdrawal of the country's other main candidate, onetime President Joaquin Balaguer, 59, would have been far less voluntary. On his final campaign rounds of the countryside, Balaguer's auto caravan was passing through La Romana 60 miles east of Santo Domingo when a band of armed men suddenly opened up from ambush, killing one person and wounding four. Balaguer escaped injury.

Despite these two dramatic events, most of the campaign has been quiet and even a bit dull. Bosch comes across as honest if erratic--an ascetic whose favorite drink is coconut milk. In response to charges that he is a Communist, Bosch attacks Communism, calls for closer ties with the U.S. and acceptance of U.S. aid. Balaguer is more of an old-school Dominican who goes about his political business with a cold, stony dignity. He preaches much the same program as Bosch: peace, land reform, more jobs. But where Bosch advocates sudden change, Balaguer pushes quiet stability.

At week's end the race looked like a dead heat. The big unknown is the rural vote, making up 40% of the population. "These people," says one palace official, "remember from Trujillo that it is very important to be on the winner's side. The election itself will be won in the last three or four days of the campaign as the silent vote makes up its mind who it thinks will win. Some will just wake up election morning and they'll know. Then they'll just vote."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.