President’s Rivals Triumph in Election

A crushing election defeat spurred by the death of an opposition leader has left President Leonel Fernandez facing two years under the thumb of political rivals. The Dominican Revolutionary Party, or PRD--whose leader, Jose Francisco Pena Gomez, died last week--won 24 of 30 Senate seats and at least 80 of 149 seats in the lower house, the Central Elections Board said after counting 95% of the 2.7 million ballots cast Saturday. The leftist PRD and the conservative Social Christian Reformist Party, or PRSC, consolidated their power, making it easier for them to override presidential vetoes and stymie Fernandez’s initiatives. Fernandez’s centrist Dominican Liberation Party won at least four seats in the Senate and 49 in the lower house, while the PRSC of former President Joaquin Balaguer was expected to win two seats in the Senate and 15 in the lower house.