DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PREPARES FOR SUNDAY'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Record ID: 648564

  • Title: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PREPARES FOR SUNDAY'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
  • Date: 15th May 2004
  • Summary: SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (MAY 15, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV OF CITY 0.02 2. SV/SLV VARIOUS OF SECURITY IN STREET (4 SHOTS) 0.22 3. PAN/CU EXTERIORS OF ELECTORAL AUTHORITIES BUILDING/FLAG (2 SHOTS) 0.28 4. SLV/SV OF ELECTION WORKERS PICKING UP ELECTION MATERIALS (4 SHOTS) 0.42 5. SLV/LV OF MEETING OF ELECTORAL COUNCIL (2 SHOTS) 0.52 6. MCU (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF ELECTORAL COUNCIL, NELSON GOMEZ, SAYING: "For the the first time in the electoral history of the Dominican Republic all the electoral materials and logistics have been set eight days prior to the election." 1.06 7. PAN OF VOTING INSTRUCTIONS 1.12 8. SV/CU OF ELECTION WORKERS CHECKING ELECTION MATERIALS (2 SHOTS) 1.22 9. CU OF ELECTION WORKERS PICKING UP IDENTIFICATION 1.24 10. SV/CU ELECTION WORKERS (5 SHOTS) 1.46 11. SLV PEOPE QUEUEING 1.50 12. CU/SV OF SECURITY OUTSIDE ELECTORAL AUTHORITIES BUILDING (4 SHOTS) 2.00 13. LAS HELICOPTER 2.02 14. SV/CU OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES ANNOUNCING LATEST POLLS (3 SHOTS) 2.13 SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 15. SV OF SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT HIPOLITO MEJIA (2 SHOTS) 2.21 16. SV OF SUPPORTERS OF LEONEL FERNANDEZ (2 SHOTS) 2.32 17. SV STAND SELLING HATS FOR DIFFERENT POLITICAL PARTIES 2.36 SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (MAY 15, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 18. SLV PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH STREETS 2.40 19. MCU (Spanish) SANTO DOMINGO RESIDENT, GABRIEL CUEVAS, SAYING: "We hope that the elections take place peacefully and the electoral authorities have guaranteed that the process will be as clear as possible." 2.49 20. MCU (Spanish) SANTO DOMINGO RESIDENT, JUAN ALEXIS, SAYING: "The elections will be a hard-fought process, the campaign has been tough but I believe that technically there will be a tie." 2.59 SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 21. SLV LEONEL FERNANDEZ CAMPAIGNING 3.10 22. SV/LV HIPOLITO MEJIA CAMPAIGNING (2 SHOTS) 3.17 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
  • Country: Dominican Republic
  • Reuters ID: LVA71YP8RWZ10HUWMMM5WEH8R1M2
  • Story Text: Dominican Republic prepares for Sunday's (May 16)
    presidential election.




    Security was tight as voting booths were set up
    throughout Santo Domingo on Saturday (May 15) for Sunday's
    (May 16) presidential elections in the Dominican Republic.

    Some residents said they had confidence the elections
    would go smoothly.

    "We hope that the elections take place peacefully and
    the electoral authorities have guaranteed that the process
    will be as clear as possible," said one resident Gabriel
    Cuevas.

    President Hipolito Mejia faces punishment from voters
    in the Dominican Republic's presidential election on Sunday
    after a term marked by a deep economic slide in the
    once-thriving Caribbean country.

    Former President Leonel Fernandez, his main rival for
    the job, has plugged into discontent over plummeting living
    standards in the country of 8.5 million people and leads in
    recent opinion polls by more than 25 points. With such a lead, the
    question is more whether
    Fernandez will get the 50 percent plus one vote needed to
    win outright on Sunday, or have to face Mejia in a runoff
    between the two top candidates on June 30.

    Mejia, the candidate of the center-left Dominican
    Revolutionary Party, has angered voters over an economic
    slump sharply exacerbated by the collapse of one of the
    country's largest banks and two smaller banks last year.

    The bank collapse left a hole of more than $2 billion
    in the public coffers and sent the country to the
    International Monetary Fund for a $600 million loan.

    The Dominican Republic, which is heavily dependent on
    imports, has seen its peso slide to a third of the value it
    had against the U.S. dollar in 2000, inflation up to 50
    percent, the collapse of small businesses and daylong power
    cuts. The country shares the island of Hispaola with
    Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.

    Dominicans, who enjoyed an economy that grew at more
    than seven percent a year in the late 1990s, blame Mejia, a
    63-year-old agricultural scientist whose four years in
    office have not tempered his plain talk and earthy,
    populist style. The latest opinion polls give him just 27
    percent support.

    Lawyer Fernandez, the 50-year-old candidate of the
    centrist Dominican Liberation Party who was in office from
    1996 to 2000, is backed by 54 percent to 59 percent of
    voters, according to polls by Gallup and Penn Shoen and
    Berland.

    In third place with about 11 percent support is
    Christian Democrat Eduardo Estrella.

    Mejia, who has clawed back from poll figures in the
    teens a few months ago and has been busy inaugurating
    public works programs, blames the economic crisis on
    outside factors beyond his control.

    They include the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United
    States that depressed tourism, a mainstay of the Dominican
    economy, and soaring oil prices.



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