On stunning win, Dominican Republic leader ‘learned not to hate’

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic president Danilo Medina onMonday thanked all those who catapulted his reelection and those who cast an opposingballot, noting that during this campaign he had “learned not to hate.”

He said he respects everyone’s right and ran his campaignbased on serenity, respect and harmony, without hurting or attacking competitors,and confronting ideas instead.

Medina said to solve their problems his program of surprisesvisits benefited 14 provinces that didn’t vote for him in 2012, when theirinhabitants expressed their dissatisfaction with the government.

"And today I feel happy because those 14 provinces, whichdid not vote for us, have said yes to candidate Danilo Medina and the PLD(ruling party), the 32 provinces supported the project of country we areincarnating, it wasn’t me who received it, it was the program of accomplishmentsthat are being developing from the presidency of the Republic that received it,"Medina said.

The central Electoral Board’s latest results point to an overwhelmingwin for Medina, with 61.57% of the votes, to opposition PRM party rival Luis Abinader’s 35.37%, with 66.90% of the votes counted.