Although an official announcement has yet to be made, due to Jacinto Peynado’s accusations of electoral fraud in San Pedro de Macor?s, newcomer Eduardo Estrella is generally being recognized as the clear winner of Sunday’s PRSC primary elections to select the party’s presidential candidate. Last night the PRSC released their fourth bulletin, which gave Estrella a 3.76% lead over rival Peynado, at which time over 97% of the votes had been counted. The gap between the two candidates has widened to 13,652 votes, meaning that even if the 1,688 votes from San Pedro were annulled, Estrella would still emerge as the victor. El Caribe newspaper reports that the prolonged counting of votes, a familiar feature of Dominican elections at all levels, had caused so many heated corridor discussions between PRSC members at their counting center in the Hotel Mel?a that the management asked them to leave the premises following numerous complaints from guests.
Peynado for his part insists that there should be an investigation into what he considers to be ?irregularities? in the voting in San Pedro de Macor?s, which were confirmed by the civil society non-partisan organization Participaci?n Ciudadana in their capacity as electoral observers.