Dominican President Leonel Fernandez was elected to his third term in Saturday's presidential election, garnering 53 percent of the vote, preliminary results showed.
The Central Electoral Commission gave Fernandez of the centrist Dominican Liberation Party 53 percent of the vote, while his main rival Miguel Vargas of the center-left Dominican Revolutionary Party received 41 percent, after results from 72 percent of voting stations were tallied.
Fernandez pledged before cheering supporters to continue pushing forward economic projects that have helped pull the Caribbean nation's economy out of crisis.
"No time will be lost in the continuation of our work and progress," he said.
Vargas conceded defeat on the partial results.
"I accept and recognize the results of the elections," Vargas said in a speech at his campaign headquarters.
Some 5.76 million people out of the country's population of 9.5 million registered to vote, but it was not yet clear how many of the eligible voters cast ballots in the election.
Dominican citizens also voted abroad in 17 cities in Latin America, Europe and the United States.
Fernandez was born in Santo Domingo in 1953 but spent his childhood and formative years in New York City.
He joined the Dominican Liberation Party in 1973 and became a close pupil of former president Juan Bosch.
In 1996, Fernandez won his first term. In 2004, he became president for the second time, but inherited a crumbling economy.
With the help of loans from the International Monetary Fund, Fernandez managed to turn the deteriorating economy around.
During his presidential campaign, Fernandez promised educational advances, social security, justice and fight against corruption.
Fernandez said economy growth rose from 1.3 percent to 8.5 percent under his presidency and that inflation decreased from 28.7 percent to 8.8 percent, the lowest among all Latin American countries. Besides, more than 420,000 jobs were created during his term.
Observers from the Organization of American States said the election went smoothly despite isolated incidents of violence. Four people were killed in a clash Wednesday between partisans.
Source: Xinhua
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