According to an analysis of the results of the Hamilton & Staff poll commissioned by Hoy newspaper, the death of Partido Revolucionario Dominicano leader, Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez, who was running for mayor of Santo Domingo in those elections, shortly before the elections, had little effect on the final poll results. 32% of PRD members abstained from voting in those elections, a high abstention rate by Dominican standards. In the past elections, of 4,129,554 voters, only 2,093,488 or 50.7%, for a 49.3% abstention, very high by Dominican standards. The survey showed most Dominicans didn’t vote because the polling stations were far away or they did not feel strongly about any of the contenders.
