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Reuters
Social distancing and other hygiene steps are in place for the vote
Men and women in the Dominican Republic are voting to select a new president, in an election that was postponed from May well due to the fact of the coronavirus crisis.
The vote could end the Dominican Liberation Party’s 16 yrs in electrical power.
Polls recommend its candidate Gonzalo Castillo is probably to be crushed by Luis Abinader of the opposition Modern Revolutionary Get together (PRM).
Dominicans will also be picking 190 members of the chamber of deputies and 32 senators.
Incumbent President Danilo Medina is ineligible to stand for re-election, acquiring served two consecutive phrases since 2012.
If no candidate wins a lot more than 50% of the votes in Sunday’s very first spherical, a operate-off will be held.
Who are the best candidates for president?
Feeling polls have constantly place Luis Abinader in advance of all other candidates.
AFP
Mr Abinader, whose loved ones is of Lebanese descent, is a US-educated economist.
He is executive president of Grupo Abicor, a organization owned by his family which operates key tourism projects in the Dominican Republic.
He ran for president in 2016 and manufactured it into the next round, but lost to Mr Medina, who conquer him by virtually 27 proportion factors.
Mr Abinader and his spouse declared on 11 June that they had analyzed good for coronavirus and he had to temporarily end campaigning whilst he recovered.
The Dominican Republic is one of the worst-afflicted nations around the world in the Caribbean, with a lot more than 35,000 confirmed situations and a lot more than 775 deaths, in accordance to Johns Hopkins University.
Mr Abinader surged ahead in the impression polls right after a split in the governing party.
President Medina, who has been in ability due to the fact 2012, has given his backing to Mr Castillo, a former minister of general public operates.
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Mr Castillo is a rich businessman who has founded a variety of businesses in excess of the yrs, like aviation firm Helidosa and air ambulance company Aeroambulancia.
But some Dominican Liberation Celebration supporters might switch allegiance to former president Leonel Fernández.
Mr Fernández, who was president from 1996 to 2000 and again from 2004 to 2012, determined to operate for the People’s Force celebration, which he has been main because he still left the Dominican Liberation Occasion.
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He analyzed legislation in the Dominican Republic but expended substantially of his youth in New York. He has labored as a law firm, university professor and creator.
Opinion polls have him in third position driving Mr Abinader and Mr Castillo.
Even so pollsters acknowledged that, with the elections getting held less than unparalleled situations amid the continuing pandemic, it was really hard to predict how voters would respond on the day.
All candidates had to severely curtail their campaigning owing to the virus, but the president of the central electoral board assured voters that polling stations had received hygiene kits and that the nation was “ready” for the elections.
