T
Tom
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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - The second- and third-place candidates withdrew from the Dominican presidential race today, recognizing a first-round victory by opposition leader Hipolito Mejia.
Forcing the country to endure another round of campaigning would be ``a tortuous road'' that could create instability and hurt the economy, Dominican Liberation Party candidate Danilo Medina told a news conference.
``The clear tendency shown by the votes cast is that the Dominican people are inclined to see a government by (Mejia's) Dominican Revolutionary Party,'' Medina said.
Ex-President Joaquin Balaguer also recognized a Mejia victory, said Donald Reid Cabral, president of Balaguer's Social Christian Reformist Party.
Medina said Mejia could win because of a rule that allows the elections board to declare a winner if any party declines to participate in a second round, even if that winner doesn't have a majority vote called for by Dominican law.
With all but 18 of 11,422 polling stations reporting from Tuesday's election, officials said Mejia has 49.86 percent of the vote, just shy of the margin needed to avoid a June 30 runoff.
Free-market advocate Medina had 24.95 percent. The conservative Balaguer, 93, won 24.61 percent, despite blindness and frailty.
There was no immediate comment from the elections board, which was re-examining 46,000 invalidated ballots to determine whether the populist Mejia - who already has declared victory - had cleared the 50-percent threshold. Because each polling station can have no more than 600 voters, it seemed unlikely that the regular vote count could do that.
The 46,000 ballots were invalidated for technical reasons, such as marks in the wrong place. Officials said that if the intention of the voter was clear, it could be used to decide the election.
Balaguer's and Medina's parties had been widely expected to unite in a run-off, as they did in 1996 when their combined efforts helped the Liberation Party's Leonel Fernandez narrowly defeat the Revolutionary Party's Jose Francisco Pena Gomez.
Mejia behaved like a president-elect throughout the day Wednesday, speaking enthusiastically of his plans to better distribute the fruits of a four-year economic boom to the Dominican poor.
Even Balaguer, who was seven times president of this Caribbean nation for most of the last 40 years, ending in 1996, had seemed convinced that Mejia might win, shaking his hand in congratulations during a Wednesday afternoon meeting at Balaguer's house.
Mejia acknowledged the difficulty of gaining an absolute majority and called it an unreasonable requirement. ``It's an abuse to have to get 50 percent of the vote in a country with three parties,'' Mejia said. However, he added he did not intend to change the rule if elected.
Mejia has criticized the current government's free-market reforms and massive construction projects, accusing it of ignoring the basic needs of the poor majority.
Fernandez - who was constitutionally barred from running for a second consecutive term - has overseen an almost 40 percent growth in the economy over the last four years. But the median income still hovers around $2,000 a year and many Dominicans are desperately poor.
In contrast to Medina, a technocrat who promised that the economic success would trickle down to the poor, Mejia promised small public works projects, road repairs, sanitation and better schools.
Balaguer offered to run the country as he did in the past - with a firm hand that controlled everything from the price of gasoline to the National Congress. His critics worried about a return to what they said was an authoritarian government marked by human rights violations and favoritism.
A small scuffle erupted Wednesday night in front of the Liberation Party headquarters between Medina supporters and Mejia backers who were passing by in a caravan. Shots were fired twice but there were no injuries, said Liberation Party spokesman Abinader Fortunato.
The election was observed by more than 100 international monitors, including delegations from the Atlanta-based Carter Center, the Organization of American States, the National Democratic Institute and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
IFES President Richard Soudriette said Wednesday his observers had seen no evidence of fraud.
Forcing the country to endure another round of campaigning would be ``a tortuous road'' that could create instability and hurt the economy, Dominican Liberation Party candidate Danilo Medina told a news conference.
``The clear tendency shown by the votes cast is that the Dominican people are inclined to see a government by (Mejia's) Dominican Revolutionary Party,'' Medina said.
Ex-President Joaquin Balaguer also recognized a Mejia victory, said Donald Reid Cabral, president of Balaguer's Social Christian Reformist Party.
Medina said Mejia could win because of a rule that allows the elections board to declare a winner if any party declines to participate in a second round, even if that winner doesn't have a majority vote called for by Dominican law.
With all but 18 of 11,422 polling stations reporting from Tuesday's election, officials said Mejia has 49.86 percent of the vote, just shy of the margin needed to avoid a June 30 runoff.
Free-market advocate Medina had 24.95 percent. The conservative Balaguer, 93, won 24.61 percent, despite blindness and frailty.
There was no immediate comment from the elections board, which was re-examining 46,000 invalidated ballots to determine whether the populist Mejia - who already has declared victory - had cleared the 50-percent threshold. Because each polling station can have no more than 600 voters, it seemed unlikely that the regular vote count could do that.
The 46,000 ballots were invalidated for technical reasons, such as marks in the wrong place. Officials said that if the intention of the voter was clear, it could be used to decide the election.
Balaguer's and Medina's parties had been widely expected to unite in a run-off, as they did in 1996 when their combined efforts helped the Liberation Party's Leonel Fernandez narrowly defeat the Revolutionary Party's Jose Francisco Pena Gomez.
Mejia behaved like a president-elect throughout the day Wednesday, speaking enthusiastically of his plans to better distribute the fruits of a four-year economic boom to the Dominican poor.
Even Balaguer, who was seven times president of this Caribbean nation for most of the last 40 years, ending in 1996, had seemed convinced that Mejia might win, shaking his hand in congratulations during a Wednesday afternoon meeting at Balaguer's house.
Mejia acknowledged the difficulty of gaining an absolute majority and called it an unreasonable requirement. ``It's an abuse to have to get 50 percent of the vote in a country with three parties,'' Mejia said. However, he added he did not intend to change the rule if elected.
Mejia has criticized the current government's free-market reforms and massive construction projects, accusing it of ignoring the basic needs of the poor majority.
Fernandez - who was constitutionally barred from running for a second consecutive term - has overseen an almost 40 percent growth in the economy over the last four years. But the median income still hovers around $2,000 a year and many Dominicans are desperately poor.
In contrast to Medina, a technocrat who promised that the economic success would trickle down to the poor, Mejia promised small public works projects, road repairs, sanitation and better schools.
Balaguer offered to run the country as he did in the past - with a firm hand that controlled everything from the price of gasoline to the National Congress. His critics worried about a return to what they said was an authoritarian government marked by human rights violations and favoritism.
A small scuffle erupted Wednesday night in front of the Liberation Party headquarters between Medina supporters and Mejia backers who were passing by in a caravan. Shots were fired twice but there were no injuries, said Liberation Party spokesman Abinader Fortunato.
The election was observed by more than 100 international monitors, including delegations from the Atlanta-based Carter Center, the Organization of American States, the National Democratic Institute and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
IFES President Richard Soudriette said Wednesday his observers had seen no evidence of fraud.