Dominican Republic president widens lead two months to election

Dominican Republic president widens lead two months to election

March 13, 2008
Caribbean Net News

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Bloomberg): Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez has widened the lead over his closest political opponent two months before scheduled presidential elections, according to a new poll commissioned by newspaper Diario Libre.

Dominican Republican President Leonel Fernandez. AFP PHOTO

Fernandez's support rose two percentage points from a month ago to 49 percent, compared with 37 percent backing for Miguel Vargas Maldonado, according to the survey done by the pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. Fernandez is a member of the Dominican Liberation Party; Vargas Maldonado is the candidate of the Dominican Revolutionary Party and a minister in the previous administration.

The poll of 1,201 Dominicans eligible to vote was conducted February 20 to March 3, and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

A majority of votes is needed to win the first round of presidential balloting on May 16. Should any candidate fail to win more than half the votes, a second-round vote would be held June 30.

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