By: Staff Writer
May 24, 2024
Dominican Republic incumbent president Luis Abinader has declared himself winner of last Sunday’s presidential election.
Abindader, after securing a commanding lead in the country’s presidential elections, according to preliminary results on Monday, has declared himself the winner in a landslide victory.
With around 38% of votes counted, Abinader held 59.24 percent of the vote, followed by three-time former President Leonel Fernandez with 26.97 percent, according to preliminary data from the nation’s central electoral board.
If Abinader exceeds 50 percent of the vote, he will win another term without the need for a runoff vote.
In a post on the social media platform X. Fernandez said he called Abinader to concede the election. His other competitor, Mayor Abel Martínez, conceded early in that Sunday evening as well.
The outcome reinforced both Abinader’s anti-corruption agenda, the government’s crackdown along its shared border with Haiti and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing the Dominican Republic’s violence-stricken neighbor. Such policies are only likely to continue in his next term.
Abinader supporters in his campaign headquarters started celebrating early on, blowing horns and cheering. In his victory speech, Abinader delivered a nationalistic message promising change and anti-corruption measures. He notably spoke little about of the government’s harsh measures on Haitian migrants and the crisis in its island neighbor.
“Today our country shines with its own light,” Abinader told supporters at the headquarters of his Modern Revolutionary Party, pledging to serve as president for all citizens.
He called for a country “without distinction, without sectarianism and without party colours”.
The re-elected head of state also vowed to push through constitutional reform on the continuity of power that would not rely on the “personal whim” of the president in office. He pledged that he would not run again after completing his second term.
Many of the eight million eligible voters are still troubled by an electoral authority decision to suspend the 2020 municipal elections due to a technical glitch, prompting what appears to be a high voter turnout.
The vote comes amid the spiraling political and social crisis in neighboring Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The crisis has seen Abinader’s administration seal the island’s shared border and airspace.
He has also been accused of stoking anti-Haitian sentiment, and in 2022, the United States embassy warned Black and “darker-skinned Americans” that they risk “increased interaction” with Dominican authorities amid an immigration crackdown.