According to results of the most recent Diario Libre-Gallup poll, the presidential election will be decided by 10 municipal districts. The results to watch most closely are those of:
Santo Domingo province ? 933,163 voters
National District (city of Santo Domingo) ? 682,664 voters
Santiago ? 559,312 voters
San Cristobal ? 268,680 voters
La Vega ? 230,239 voters
Duarte (San Francisco de Macoris) ? 184,907 voters
Puerto Plata ? 174,513 voters
San Pedro de Macoris ? 154,989 voters
San Juan de la Maguana ? 139,640 voters
Espaillat (Moca) with 139,152 voters
Since each of these provinces has more than 100,000 voters, the poll indicates the results of the municipal boards of these will be crucial.
The Diario Libre reports that Leonel Fernandez of the PLD leads in the metropolitan zone of Santo Domingo with 61.4%, Hipolito Mejia of the PRD follows with 26.1%, and Eduardo Estrella of the PRSC lags behind with 8.9%. In the Cibao region, Estrella garners strength with 18.3%, Mejia has 27.7% and Fernandez has a 49.5% vote. In the South, the PLD candidate received 50.7% of the poll, 30.2% went to the PRD candidate, and 17.6% to the PRSC candidate. In the East, Fernandez received 60.6%, Mejia 22.7% and Estrella 12.1%.
The April 14-18 Diario Libre-Gallup poll showed voter intent to be 54.8% in favor of Leonel Fernandez, the PLD candidate. President Hipolito Mejia followed with 27.1% of the hypothetical vote, and the PRSC?s Eduardo Estrella would have received 14.4%. Voters who said they were still undecided accounted for 2.7%.