Talk:Leonel Fernández
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(Text from duplicate article Leonel Fernandez)
Leonel Fernandez has been elected twice as the President of the Dominican Republic once in 1996 and again in 2004.
In 1996, Fernandez won a narrow victory as the candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), over Jose Francisco Pena Gomez of the leftwing Revolutionary Democratic Party(PRD) affiliated to the Socialist International by 1.5%. He succeeded incumbent president President Joaquin Balaguer of the PRSC a Christian Democratic Party.
During his term, Fernandez' political agenda was one of economic and judicial reform. He helped enhance Dominican participation in hemispheric affairs, such as the Organization of American States and the follow up to the Miami Summit. During Fernadez's first term, the Dominican Republic enjoyed an average growth rate of seven per cent.
He was succeeded by Hipólito Mejía, the Revolutionary Democratic Party candidate who became President in 2000. During Mejía's term, the Dominican Republic suffered an economic slump with price rises, job losses and the collapse of one of the country's biggest banks leadong to the intervention of the International Monetary Fund. Fernandez stood against Mejia promising to stabilise the economy and won a convincing victory in elections held on May 16, 2004 with polls predicting that he would win 54 per cent of the vote as opposed to Mejía's vote of 36 per cent.
