Opposition leader Abinader rounds off campaign for Dominican presidency

Record ID: 103635

  • Title: Opposition leader Abinader rounds off campaign for Dominican presidency
  • Date: 14th May 2016
  • Summary: BILLBOARD THAT READS: "VOTE 15" ABINADER SUPPORTERS AT RALLY WAITING FOR ABINADER TO ARRIVE ABINADER SUPPORTERS WALKING TOWARDS EVENT
  • Embargoed: 29th May 2016 03:04
  • Keywords: Luis Abinader Santo Domingo Trujillo Danilo Medina
  • Location: SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
  • City: SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
  • Country: Dominican Republic
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0024HS2A83
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Opposition leader in the Dominican Republic's presidential election, Luis Abinader, wrapped campaigning in the Caribbean nation on Friday (May 13). He faces an uphill battle for votes with the incumbent government expected to clinch victory.
    Abinader, 48, is a businessman for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) who has never held elected office in the Dominican Republic. He is running on a campaign of increased social welfare, a rise in the national minimum wage and a programme to get tough on crime.
    Abinader belongs to a family dedicated primarily to tourism and the cement business. He also owns one of the country's private universities. He became his party's presidential candidate, beating Hipolito Mejia, former President from 2000-2004.
    During his closing remarks at his rally, held in Santo Domingo, Abinader said his party represented change.
    "The people want changes and we will give them change. We will give them change, that change will change the situation of Dominicans and it will improve quality of life, of everything," Abinader said.
    In 2005 he was a candidate for senator for the province of Santo Domingo. He was also the vice-presidential candidate of the Dominican Republic in the last elections held in May 2012 representing the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), which split after a crisis stemming from these elections. One of its fractions became the PRM.
    Abinader called on abstaining voters to trust in him.
    "I call, I shout to the vote of those who hardly ever vote. Those who abstain because they feel we are all the same. Because they believe all politicians lie and say one thing today and another tomorrow. I ask them and a lot of you know them, in your neighbourhoods, in your municipalities, in your street, I ask them to trust us," Abinader said.
    The odds of a Abinader victory are slim. Polls show Medina in the lead, reaching as high as 60 percent support.
    A booming economy backed by tourism and diversification in sectors like mining has buoyed Medina, as he successfully sought to extend term limits for the presidency.
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