Eduardo González
The Spanish Government yesterday congratulated Luis Abinader for his re-election as president of the Dominican Republic in the elections this past Sunday, in which he obtained more than 57 percent of the votes.
“Congratulations, Luis Abinader, on your re-election for a second presidential term on an exemplary election day,” declared the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, through his official account on the social network X. “We will continue working to strengthen the excellent relationship bilateral with the Dominican Republic,” he added.
For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs congratulated Luis Abinader “for his re-election in the elections held yesterday, May 19, and the Dominican people, who exercised their right to vote in a democratic and respectful environment.”
“The Government of Spain conveys its wishes for success to President Abinader in this new period and expresses its desire to continue deepening bilateral relations between Spain and the Dominican Republic, and cooperation as members of the Ibero-American Community of Nations, for the benefit of our two towns,” it added in a statement.
Also the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, through his account on the same social network, described the Dominican Republic as a “brother country” and highlighted that the election of the candidate for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) is an option of “stability”.
Luis Abinader, of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), obtained 57.17 percent of the votes, ahead of three-time Dominican president Leonel Fernández (1996-2000, 2004-2008 and 2008-2012), of the People’s Force, who achieved 29.33% of the votes, and the former president of the Chamber of Deputies and former mayor of Santiago (second city in the country) Abel Martínez, of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), who came in third place with 10.21% of the votes.
Abinader surpasses the results of the previous 2020 presidential elections by five points, in which he obtained 52.52% of the votes. “I am and will be the president of all Dominicans, without distinction, without sectarianism and without party colors,” declared the president after the confirmation of his electoral victory.
More than eight million Dominicans were called to the presidential elections, although participation did not reach 54 percent. Eleven percent of the voters reside abroad and of the 149,397 Dominicans registered in Europe (who elected two of the five deputies representing the diaspora), the vast majority (109,557) live in Spain, according to data from the embassy of the Dominican Republic in Madrid. The Dominican community was able to cast their votes in a hundred voting centers in the main Spanish cities, 80 percent in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.
Luis Abinader visited Spain twice during his first term: in April 2021, when he was received in Madrid by the King and Pedro Sánchez on the occasion of his participation in the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government in Andorra; and in January 2022, where he attended the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, in which the Dominican Republic participated as an honorary partner.
