New Era for Dominican Republic

The election of Leonel Fernandez, a lawyer raised in New York City, as president of the Dominican Republic marks a dramatic generational change in the nation’s politics and signals the beginning of a new era for the impoverished country.

Fernandez, 42, a political moderate, succeeds Joaquin Balaguer, 89, the strongman who has dominated politics there for four decades, along with his alter ego and fellow octogenarian, Juan Bosch.

The new president has the benefit of an unsullied election to aid him in his quest for change, modernization and development as means to mitigate poverty and end corruption. His election was praised by foreign and domestic observers as the cleanest in the country’s history. Even his opponent, Jose Francisco Pea Gomez, a three-time presidential candidate and winner of the first round of the election, acknowledged that Fernandez had defeated him fair and square in Sunday’s voting.

The road ahead for the victor, however, does not look rosy. Fernandez’s support in the Congress is very weak. His party, the Dominican Liberation Party, has only one seat in the 30-member Dominican Senate and 12 out of 120 representatives in the Chamber of Deputies. This precarious position will force him to negotiate with Balaguer, whose party controls Congress.

Over everything looms the Caribbean country’s poverty. More than 1 million Dominicans have fled the island to look for economic opportunities in the United States in the last 30 years. Washington could support Fernandez by encouraging investment in the Dominican Republic. He deserves a helping hand.