First major poll gives ex-Dominican leader a comfortable lead

Santo Domingo.- Former president Leonel Fernández would be the best bet for Dominican Republic’s ruling party (PLD) to retain the Presidency in the 2016 election against any candidate fielded by the opposition party (PRD), says the Penn, Shoen & Berland survey disclosed Monday.

The poll contracted by the SIN network shows Fernandez as politician with the best chance to win against the PRD candidates -Hipólito Mejía, Luis Abinader and Miguel Vargas- followed by Senate president Reinaldo Pared, also of the PLD.

The firsd major survey leading to the 2016 general elections says Fernandez would beat Vargas 51% to 26%; 48% to 42% against Mejía and 48% to 42% against Abinader.

Pollster representative Bernardo Vega said the survey’s margin of error is of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.