SANTO DOMINGO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary results have shown that the centrist Dominican Liberation Party led by President Leonel Fernandez won 53 percent of the vote in Saturday's presidential election.

    An aide to President Fernandez declared victory after the centrist Dominican Liberation Party leader secured the votes needed for an outright win.

A man casts his ballot during the presidential election at a polling station in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, May 16, 2008. Dominican Republic held its presidential election on Friday.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Meanwhile, Fernandez's main rival Miguel Vargas from the center-left Dominican Revolutionary Party conceded the election.

    Francisco Javier Garcia, the president's campaign chief, said they had "got the result in the first round."

    "The Dominican people, with their intended votes, have decided not to leave for tomorrow what they could settle today," Garcia told reporters, ruling out any possibility of a run-off.

    Citing internal party tallies, Garcia said Fernandez had won almost 54 percent of the vote with 61 percent of ballots counted.

    The central elections board said earlier in the day that 10 percent of voting stations has been counted and that preliminary results showed that Fernandez won 53 percent of the vote.

    Fernandez's main rival Vargas garnered 41 percent.

Voters fill in the ballots during the presidential election at a polling station in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, May 16, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Under the 1966 constitution, amended in 1994, a candidate will have to garner more than 50 percent of the vote for an outright victory and otherwise, a runoff will be held after 45 days between the two leading candidates.

    Some 5.76 million people out of the country's population of 9.5million have registered to vote.

    Fernandez, 54, won his first term in 1996 and was reelected in 2004.

    During his campaign, Fernandez promised educational advances, social security, justice and fight against corruption.

    Fernandez said economy growth rose from 1.3 percent to 8.5 percent under his presidency and that inflation decreased from 28.7 percent to 8.8 percent, the lowest among all Latin American countries. Besides, more than 420,000 jobs were created during his term.

A man fetches a ballot during the presidential election at a polling station in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, May 16, 2008.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

Dominican presidential election closed 

    SANTO DOMINGO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Polling stations for presidential elections in the Dominican Republic closed on Friday, the Electoral Central Junta (JCE) said.

    The 13, 075 electoral collages of the 32 departments in the Dominican Republic closed at 6 p.m. local time (2200 GTM). Full story

Profile: Dominican presidential front runners

    SANTO DOMINGO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Domonican Republic is set to hold presidential elections on Friday. Following are profiles of the two leading presidential candidates:

    -- The incumbent president, Leonel Fernandez.

    Fernandez, who heads the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), takes the lead in most published polls with around 56 percent of support. Full story

Backgrounder: Key facts about Dominican presidential race

    SANTO DOMINGO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Dominican Republic will hold presidential elections on Friday. The following are some key facts about the polls in the Caribbean nation.

    The Dominican Republic, which covers an area of 48,734 square km, is located in the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola, which lies between Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea. The country has the only international border with Haiti, to the west.  Full story