Opposition candidate Luis Abinader has claimed victory in the Dominican Republic’s presidential race after voters on Sunday braved a worsening COVID-19 outbreak to cast their ballots for a new leader and legislature.
Abinader is seeking to end 16 years of unbroken rule by the Caribbean nation’s center-left Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), whose candidate Gonzalo Castillo was running second in a six-man field, pre-election polls showed.
“We won, today we win, but we will never forget who we owe this victory to,” the 52-year-old businessman said from a platform before dozens of followers at his campaign headquarters in the capital, Santo Domingo.
Photo: EPA
His main rivals conceded defeat shortly afterward, although no official result has been announced.
About 60 percent of ballots had been counted, with Abinader gaining 53 percent of those votes, while Castillo garnered 37 percent, central electoral board data showed.
Gunfire outside a polling station in the capital left one person dead after an argument among opposing party activists turned violent, police said.
Yet elsewhere, the voting appeared to progress smoothly, with few disruptions despite the extra virus precautions.
“It’s pretty fluid and very well organized. The truth is I didn’t expect it,” said Maribel Roman, a 47-year-old business consultant, as she waited for her turn to vote.
The election, which was pushed back from May 17, was held despite the epidemic’s explosive spread, with the number of new COVID-19 cases on Sunday hitting a record high of 1,241.
Outgoing Dominican President Danilo Medina, who cannot seek another term under the country’s constitution, was forced to impose a national lockdown, easing it only last week as parties made a final drive for votes.
Abinader had to suspend his campaign after testing positive for COVID-19, but recovered sufficiently to lead a rally on Wednesday.
An observer team from the Organization of American States monitored the vote, but its leader, former Chilean president Eduardo Frei, was unable to be present because of travel restrictions.
About 7.5 million Dominicans were eligible to cast ballots in the election.
Also up for grabs are 32 senate seats, 190 seats in the lower house and 20 representatives to the Central American parliament.
“Change is coming and the PLD is going,” Abinader, who is considered a centrist, promised hundreds of his supporters at the rally on Wednesday.
Corruption has been a key issue after protests in the past few years over the involvement of local officials in the Latin America-wide Odebrecht graft scandal.
The Brazilian construction giant has admitted to doling out US$92 million in bribes in the Dominican Republic in exchange for winning public works contracts.
The country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, ranks 137th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index.
Four other candidates, including former president Leonel Fernandez, were also contesting the presidency.
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