Fernandez re-elected as president of Dominican Republic

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

SANTO DOMINGO (AFP) — Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez has been re-elected to a third term in a first round of voting, as rival Miguel Vargas conceded after a mostly peaceful election in the Caribbean nation.

The progressive liberal Fernandez was ahead with 53.22 percent of the vote -- enough to avoid a runoff -- with more than 62 percent of ballots counted, the Central Election Committee announced on Friday.

Social Democrat Vargas was at 41.10 percent, while PRSC party candidate Amable Aristy Castro was in third with 4.73 percent, the committee reported.

"The Dominican people expressed themselves today at the ballot box," Vargas said in a brief statement at the campaign headquarters of his Dominican Revolutionary Party.

"I am a democrat...