He president from the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader (Modern Revolutionary Party – PRM) has tested his popularity and won again. Nearly 8 million Dominicans went to the polls last Sunday and 59% chose the current president continue in office for another four years, in elections that were little contested and in which Abinader was always the clear favorite.
His high popularity ratings, which amount to almost 70% in his best months, did not disappoint and secured him a comfortable victory of over 50%, enough to avoid a second round of elections. The polls also triumphed; The majority predicted a victory for Abinader with 58% of the vote, and the most optimistic gave him 64%.
They failed to convince the proposals of three-time former president Leonel Fernández (26.90%) or the popular mayor of Santiago, Abel Martínez (10.95%), who were relegated to a distant second and third places.
Election day passed with minimal accidents and candidates They quickly recognized victory from Abinader. After the initial announcement of the Superior Electoral Court, Martínez, presidential candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), called Abinader to acknowledge his defeat and congratulate him on his victory. Martínez hoped that the president would “run a good government” and made himself available for any project that would benefit the nation. For his part, candidate Fernández also called the winner and wished him “success in his government”, as the former president announced in a short tweet published on his official profile.
It will take another four years before Abinader is at the helm of the Dominican Republic, after successful elections in which he wins with a large majority; In 2020, he won the presidency with 53% of the vote, compared to 37% for his nearest opponent. The president's re-election means the approval of the majority of Dominicans for his management of the economy and his hard policies against migrants Haitians.
The Dominican Republic also has the 190 members of the National Congress and 32 senators, but the results have not yet been made official at the close of this note and will take a few more hours. However, the official party – PRM – dominates in almost all districts and is expected to be the leading force, gaining a majority in both Congress and the Senate.
Haiti at the center of the campaign
It is still curious that the situation in another country has been one of the focal points of that country's election campaign. This is exactly what happened in the Dominican Republic elections; was the main protagonist Haiti. Analysts do not rule out that the current president – and now re-elected president – of blocking Haitian migration to the country has won him a significant handful of votes. The neighboring country passes one of the worst political and violent crises of its history, and the capital Port-au-Prince has been over 80% occupied by gangs, leaving a lack of control in that part of the island.
During his first period, Abinader started managing and building a 250 miles of border wall in February 2022 – a project that rhymes with the one proposed by Donald Trump at the United States border with Mexico – to prevent the mass illegal crossing of Haitians as a result of the political and security crisis facing one of the most failed states in the world world is facing. Abinader too refused to build refugee camps for their neighbors and accelerated deportations of undocumented migrants: more than 175,000 in the past year, according to government figures.