[DR1] Low voter turnout

[NewsWhore]

In spite of appeals from Church and State, the voter turnout was low in most places. According to El Caribe and Diario Libre, in some places the abstention rate was as high as 66% in some polling stations. The voting differed according to region and barrio, with the barrios in the north of Santo Domingo showing a fair turnout, while other polling stations were reported to be nearly empty. Diario Libre reports that during a tour of different polling stations, most reported voter participation of between 30 and 40%. At the San Juan Bosco private school, which is where PLD party leader Reinaldo Pared Perez voted at polling station 171, 160 of the 304 registered voters had cast their ballots. But in the neighboring station 172, only 100 of 342 had voted, and at polling station 007 in downtown Santo Domingo, only 76 of 271 voters went to the polls. In towns like Bonao, Nagua and San Francisco de Macoris, the abstention rate was similar. In the southern and eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic, Diario Libre reported that a 40% rate of abstention was widespread, with the possible exception of Pedernales where the hotels were full of "visitors from Santo Domingo."

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