Dominican President Mejia Concedes Defeat

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — President Hipolito Mejia conceded defeat late Sunday in an election marked by an outpouring of public anger over the Dominican Republic’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Mejia told reporters that he was recognizing former President Leonel Fernandez as victor with only 3% of results officially released. He said his own party’s exit polls suggested that Fernandez would win with 54% of the vote to his 37%.

“I congratulate the Dominican Liberation Party and President Leonel Fernandez,” Mejia said. “He who won, won, and he who lost, lost. I believe in democracy.”

Fernandez did not immediately speak publicly, but small fireworks exploded in the sky and Fernandez’s supporters drove through the streets of Santo Domingo honking horns.

Desperate for relief from a severe economic downturn, Dominicans turned out by the millions to vote in the election, which saw scattered complaints of irregularities and violence that left three men dead in the southwestern town of Barahona.

Outside Santo Domingo, journalists saw men in a vehicle shoot guns into the air and try to steal ballot boxes in a clash that left one man with a stab wound.