1996 Dominican Republic presidential election

Dominican Republic presidential election, 1996

16 May 1996 (1996-05-16)

Nominee Leonel Fernández José Francisco Peña Gómez Party PLD PRD Popular vote 1,466,382 1,394,641 Percentage 51.3% 48.7%

President before election Joaquín Balaguer PRSC Elected President Leonel Fernández PLD

Presidential elections were held in the Dominican Republic on 16 May 1996, with a second round on 30 June. Whilst José Francisco Peña Gómez won the most votes in the first round, he was defeated by Leonel Fernández in the second round, after the Social Christian Reformist Party, whose candidate had lost in the first round, declared their support for Fernández. Voter turnout was 78.6% in the first round and 76.8% in the second.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
José Francisco Peña Gómez	Dominican Revolutionary Party	1,333,925	45.9	1,394,641	48.7
Leonel Fernández	Dominican Liberation Party	1,130,523	38.9	1,466,382	51.3
Jacinto Peynado Garrigosa	Social Christian Reformist Party	435,504	15.0
José Rafael Abinader	Social Democratic Alliance	3,907	0.1
Invalid/blank votes		45,120	-	19,402	-
Total		2,948,979	100	2,880,425	100
Source: Nohlen