Dominican presidential vote marred by difficulties
Long lines, technical difficulties and walk-outs by polling staff marred presidential elections in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, a race that incumbent leader Danilo Medina is tipped to win.
Some voting centers opened up to two hours late due to problems with electronic equipment and a mass resignation of technical assistants.
No fewer than 3,000 such assistants presented their resignations, said the head of the electoral commission, Roberto Rosario, without giving details.
Many polling places switched to manual balloting due to issues with electronic voting, which is being used for the first time in the Caribbean country.
"We are overcoming these problems that are normal," Rosario said, estimating nine percent of voters had cast ballots by mid-morning but suggesting there could be a record turnout.
Earlier, he promised "the most transparent elections in the history of our democracy."
But some voters were disgruntled.
"I got up early because I have to work ... I want to vote and couldn't," said Mireya de la Cruz, a tourism industry worker who queued at a school.
- Poverty a problem -
Despite grinding poverty and widespread crime, incumbent Medina is favored to beat his seven rivals.
Facing a divided opposition, he has an 89 percent approval rating, according to a survey by Mexican consultancy Mitofsky. That makes the 64-year-old the most popular leader in Latin America.
"I'm going to vote for Danilo because he has worked hard for the country, he will win because people want him to continue," said Domingo de la Rosa, who works transporting sugarcane in La Romana, in the country's southeast.
Medina's centrist PLD party has been in power for 12 years in the Spanish-speaking country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with its troubled neighbor, Haiti.
The economy is booming thanks to millions of tourism dollars from foreigners flocking to the country's luxury hotels and beaches. It grew seven percent last year and inflation stood at 2.3 percent.
But 40 percent of the nation's 10 million people are estimated to live in poverty and the unemployment rate is about 14 percent, according to government figures.
"Everything is expensive -- fuel, food," said William Mercedes, a 50-year-old farm worker. "We have a lot of poverty and there are few jobs."
Critics complain that crime has worsened under Medina and say his party has been in power for too long.
Medina also faces allegations of misusing electoral funds, and broad international criticism over policies that discriminate against the Dominican-born children of Haitian migrant workers.
- A landslide victory? -
Surveys indicate that Medina will get around 60 percent of the vote, enough to win the election outright.
His nearest rival, social democrat Luis Abinader, has 29 percent support, the surveys showed. He is hoping to force Medina into a run-off.
Many of Medina's supporters tout the state of the economy, and improvements in education, as his major accomplishments.
When Medina was elected in 2012 he was supposed to be limited to one four-year stint as president. But he passed a reform in 2015 that has allowed him to run for re-election.
The 48-year-old Abinader belongs to the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), a break-off faction of the formerly powerful Revolutionary Dominican Party (PRD).
He has blamed Medina for government corruption and the country's high crime rate.
"We have two options here: democracy or one-party dictatorship," said Abinader, a wealthy businessmen of Lebanese ancestry, at a recent public appearance in a working class neighborhood.
Some 6.7 million of the Dominican Republic's 10 million residents are eligible to vote, with some 3,000 observers on hand to monitor the process.
Also being elected are 32 senators, 190 lower house deputies and local officials from 26 different parties.
The country's more than 16,000 polls were due to close at 2200 GMT.