Dominican President Claims Re-Election Victory

The campaign chief of Leonel Fernandez, the president of Dominican Republic, says that he has won Friday's election in the first round, with enough votes to avoid a run-off.
 
Francisco Javier Garcia said late on Friday Fernandez had won nearly 54 per cent of the votes.
 
Miguel Vargas, Fernandez's main challenger, conceded defeat.
   
Garcia made the statement on the basis of an internal tally by Dominican Liberation Party, with 61 per cent of the votes counted.
 
"We got the result in the first round," he said.
 
Exit polls had showed that Fernandez could win a third term and capture enough votes to avoid a run-off.
   
The poll follows a bitter campaign in which opposition leaders blamed Fernandez and the Dominican Liberation Party for recent price increases and for allegedly using government funds to buy support.
 
Fernandez, who was president from 1996 to 2000, was again elected in 2004.

The run-up to the poll was marred by violence in which three people, including a former congressman, were shot dead in a clash between supporters of Fernandez and Vargas on Wednesday in Villa Vasquez, about 200km northwest of the capital, Santo Domingo.
 
At least eight people, including two ruling party officials, also suffered gunshot wounds in clashes that took place on Thursday and Friday.