SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – As COVID-19 cases continue to increase, the Dominican Republic held presidential elections on Sunday that had already been delayed during the pandemic, and polls indicated that a businessman without prior government reveled in expelling the party it had ruled for 16 years.
A 52-year-old tourism industry leader who finished the moment in the last election to the highest of recent highest polls, followed through Gonzalo Castillo, a former minister of public works, of the ruling party. Former President Leonel Fernandez, who served three previous terms, also on the ballot, along with 3 smaller parties.
The mandate limits prevented outgoing President Danilo Medina from running for a third four-year term for the center-left Dominican Liberation Party, which has won each and every presidential election since 2004.
Abinader and Castillo, 59, have proposed social systems to deal with the new coronavirus crisis.
The spread of the coronavirus led officials to delay elections, originally scheduled for May. This happened on Sunday despite the Ministry of Health reporting Saturday the largest number of new cases of COVID-19, 1241. The country of approximately 10.5 million other people reported 794 deaths from the disease.
The lines were long and many voters forgot about physical estrangement regulations by voting 32 senators and 190 members of the congressional confined space. Polling stations were due to close at 5pm. local time, however, lines were noticed at some polling stations over the course of this time.
If no candidate exceeds 50% of the vote, a circular will be held by the time on July 26. The new president takes over on August 16.
“I came here to vote because we have to get to the first round,” Aracelis Castillo said after voting in the capital.
The countryside is quiet, without the massive meetings and street caravans that were not unusual in recent years.
On the same day as the election, at least one fatal altercation broke out with the election school shooting of an Albinader party employee. Authorities said two other people were injured.