Presidential election in the Dominican Republic in 2008
The 2008 Dominican presidential election took place on May 16, 2008. A total of 5.8 million Dominicans were called to cast their votes. Under the 1966 Constitution , the Dominican Republic is a presidential republic. The head of state and chief executive officer (head of government) is the president , who is directly elected for four years .
In January 2007, the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) nominated Miguel Vargas Maldonado as its official candidate, having clearly won the internal party election against Milagros Ortiz Bosch. In May 2007, the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) followed and nominated Leonel Fernández, who had won the party elimination against Danilo Medina . The latter then complained with his famous saying "El estado se impuso" ("The state has prevailed"), alluding to the fact that government resources had been used to defeat him. The election of the candidate for the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC) in September 2007 caused even more turmoil. After Amable Aristy Castro had narrowly won the election against Eduardo Estrella, the latter challenged the election and left after the party leadership refused to advocate the party. He formed his own movement, the Partido Dominicanos por el Cambio, concluded an alliance with the Partido Revolucionario Social Demócrata (PRSD) of Hatuey De Camps and took part in the election as a candidate for the PRSD.
Seven candidates ran for election. Since the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), which ruled from 2000 to 2004, had the prohibition of immediate re-election through in 2003 in the hope of re-election in view of the initially high approval rates of the then incumbent Hipólito Mejía , Leonel Fernández Reyna from the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana was able to get through (PLD) to run again after the end of his term from 2004 to 2008. According to polls, he was the favorite in the presidential election. His biggest challenger was the PRD entrepreneur Miguel Vargas Maldonado. The remaining five candidates were given no chance of being elected.
There were various incidents during the election campaign, the most serious shortly before the election in the city of Monte Cristi in the north-west of the country, where four people were killed in a dispute between supporters of the two leading candidates.
As expected, the incumbent Fernández won the absolute majority in the first ballot, which means that there was no runoff in a second ballot, which is provided for by the constitution in the event that none of the candidates achieve an absolute majority in the first ballot. Fernández received 53.83% of the vote, while his rival Vargas received 40.48%. Vargas admitted his defeat before all the votes cast were counted.
Leonel Fernández thus took up his third term as President after 1996–2000 and 2004–2008. As in the previous term, Rafael Alburquerque was elected Vice President.
Election result
Final result of the state election commission after counting all votes cast:
| space | candidate | Political party | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leonel Fernández Reyna | Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) | 53.83% |
| 2 | Miguel Vargas Maldonado | Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) | 40.48% |
| 3 | Amable Aristy Castro | Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC) | 4.59% |
| 6th | Eduardo Estrella | Partido Revolucionario Social Demócrata (PRSD) | 0.47% |
| 5 | Guillermo Moreno García | Movimiento Independencia, Unidad y Cambio (MIUCA) | 0.44% |
| 6th | Pedro de Jesús Candelier | Partido Alianza Popular (PAP) | 0.15% |
| 7th | Trajano Santana | Partido Revolucionario Independiente (PRI) | 0.04% |
The turnout was 70.67%, the lowest since 1978 (in the Dominican Republic, voters under 70 years of age are required to vote ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Junta Central Electoral anuncia cierre en menos de computo Electoral 24 horas. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Junta Central Electoral (JCE). May 19, 2008.
- ↑ Danilo Medina admite que el presidente Leonel Fernández Gano primarias PLD. In: Listín Diario. May 7, 2007.
- ↑ Eduardo Estrella se reúne con Dirigentes del PRSD. In: Diario Libre. August 7, 2007.
- ^ Dominican Republic president declares re-election victory with 54 percent of vote. ( Memento of October 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: International Herald Tribune . May 17, 2008.
- ↑ Elecciones Ordinarias Generales Presidenciales del 16 de Mayo 2008. Boletín # 9 ( Memento of the original of April 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the Junta Central Electoral. May 17, 2008.
