Sunday, May 11, 2008

Poll: Dominican president favorite in election

With general election coming up on Friday Dominican President Leonel Fernandez has a comfortable lead over his closest rivals based on a recent poll. 56% of respondents to a poll by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates selected Fernandez to continue in the presidency; this is compared to 37% and 5% to the rivals from the country’s two other major parties.

If the poll numbers reflect the voters’ choices on Friday then Fernandez will win without a runoff round. Several experts observed that Fernandez has some serious challenges ahead of him if he goes on to a third non-consecutive term:

"He is going to be trying to complete the unfinished business from the term that he is concluding now," said Dan Erikson, a Caribbean expert at Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.

"The Dominican Republic still has to deal with facing ongoing social problems, inadequate education and health care for many people and also just the basic element of job creation," Erikson said…

"To me the main challenge will be economic and just managing the economy in times of crisis," (said Eduardo Gamarra, a Latin American expert at Florida International University who has worked as a consultant for Fernandez.)

Image- BBC News (Dominican President Leonel Fernandez along with his Colombian and Venezuelan counterparts earlier this year)

Sources- Reuters, Angus Reid Consultants

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