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On June 30, voters in the Dominican Republic chose Leonel Fernandez as their new president in a runoff election witnessed by The Carter Center's Council of Freely Elected Heads of Government and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). Former President Jimmy Carter co-led the 38-person delegation from 13 countries with Belasario Betancur, former president of Colombia; Ramiro de Leon Carpio, former president of Guatemala; and Joe Clark, former prime minister of Canada.

Council/NDI members observed the elections in response to invitations from the Central Election Board (JCE) and the major presidential candidates earlier this year.

In the runoff election, President-elect Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party captured 51.25 percent of the vote compared to Dominican Revolutionary Party candidate Jos‚ Francisco Pena Gomez's 48.75 percent.

In April, Presidents Carter and Betancur led a pre-election mission to assess the nation's political and electoral environment before the first-round election in May. "The Dominican Republic demonstrates a high degree of interest in trying to keep the elections as free and fair as possible," said President Carter, who chairs the Council of 26 current and former leaders from the Western Hemisphere. Formed in 1986 by the Center's Latin American and Caribbean Program (LACP), the Council mediates and observes elections to assure fairness and assists with the post-election process to sustain democracy.

In 1990, a Council/NDI delegation observed one of the closest and most disputed presidential elections in the country's history. The voting resulted in a narrow victory by President Joaquin Balaguer. Although questions were raised about that election and the count, observers did not find adequate evidence that would have changed the outcome.

Results of the 1994 presidential election also were disputed. Observers from NDI and other organizations estimated that roughly 45,000 of the total 3 million voters were excluded from the final voter rolls and thus not allowed to cast ballots. President Balaguer was re-elected with a margin of only 22,281 votes (.74 percent).

In August 1994, the government and opposition political parties negotiated a "Pact for Democracy," which promised new elections in two years, prohibited two successive terms for a president, and required a second round of voting if no presidential candidate received a majority of the votes. But the JCE and the 1996 candidates felt the pact was not enough. Consequently, they invited the Council, NDI, and others to monitor this year's elections.

The Dominican Republic has held numerous elections, but most have been disputed as either unfair or manipulated. "The 1996 election offered people of the Dominican Republic the opportunity to cross a crucial threshold of democratic consolidation," said Robert Pastor, LACP director. "The elections proved to be a historic moment for the country as the losing candidate of an extremely close election accepted the results within 18 hours of the close of voting."