Dominican challenge

The way seems clear for Leonel Fernández to be re-elected as president of the Dominican Republic this Friday. Polls indicate that the social democratic leader enjoys a comfortable lead of between 15 and 20 percentage points over his closest rival, Miguel Vargas Maldonado. This is not surprising. Under Mr Fernández the country has recovered from its banking crisis of 2003 and enjoyed strong economic growth. A $700m plus new and recently opened metro system in Santo Domingo is popular among voters. So are the subsidies introduced to curb rising prices of wheat milk, rice and chicken.