Dominican Republic leader on course for re-election

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Dominican President Danilo Medina appeared to be heading toward a second term Monday as initial election returns showed him with a strong enough lead to avoid a runoff with his closest rival.

A senior official in the Medina administration, Jose Ramon Peralta, said on Twitter that the president appeared to have won the highest percentage of the vote in the country’s democratic history.

Participation in Sunday’s election was about 70 percent, with voters in the country and at expatriate polling sites in the U.S. and around the world choosing all 222 seats in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies as well as local offices.

With this victory, the Dominican Liberation Party will have won four straight presidential elections.