Leonel Fernández

Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (born 26 December 1953) is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and was the 50th and 52nd President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012.

Fernández became the first elected president of the Dominican Republic under his political party, the Dominican Liberation Party (Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, or PLD), although party founder Juan Bosch was also sworn in as president in 1963 after the first democratic elections held in roughly four decades in the country.

Fernández's administrations have focused much on technological and infrastructural development and macroeconomic and monetary stability.

He joined the Dominican Liberation Party when it was founded in 1973 by former Dominican President Juan Bosch, leaving the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) to do so.

Fernández was known as a close pupil of Bosch.

He accompanied him as a vice-presidential candidate in the 1994 presidential election.

The 1994 presidential election results, which resulted in a reelection of President Joaquín Balaguer, were widely opposed by runner-up opposition leader José Francisco Peña Gómez and his party.

In the meantime, the international community rose their concerns on the tightening of the political tensions and fear the country was on the verge of a civil uprising.

Upon an official agreement widely known as "Pact for Democracy" ("Pacto por la Democracia" in Spanish) a special election was scheduled for May 1996 and President Balaguer acceded to not run in this election as part of the arranged treaty.

PRSC opted to present Vice-president Jacinto Peynado as their candidate, however PRSC supporters feared he was not properly endorsed by their historical leader, therefore creating a vast independent mass of electors.

In the first-round election on 16 May 1996 Fernández received 38.9% of the votes in the first round achieving second place behind José Francisco Peña Gómez and PRD.

Peynado obtained 15% of the votes, the lowest outcome in Balaguer's party history which initiated a long-term downfall.

In the run-off election, held on 30 June 1996, the "Patriotic Front" integrated, and Fernández thus secured 51.2% of the votes to win the election.

He was sworn in as president on 16 August 1996, succeeding Balaguer.

During his term in office, Fernández's political agenda was one of economic and critical reform.

He helped enhance Dominican participation in hemispheric forums, such as the Organization of American States and the Summit of the Americas.

The Dominican economy enjoyed an average growth rate of seven percent, the highest in Latin America for that period, and was among the highest in the world along with South Korea's and the People's Republic of China's. Inflation was stabilized in the low single digits, also among the lowest of Latin America.

Fernández also began a visionary plan to run the Dominican Republic.

When developers proposed the country's first modern port during his first term, he said that "We could be the Singapore of the Caribbean".

In Santo Domingo and Santiago, which comprised 40% of the country's population, he favored "mega-projects", building numerous highways and tunnels which improved transit across the greater extent of these cities and created OMSA (Metropolitan Office of Autobus Services in English).

His administration also gave incentives for foreign direct investment.

In 2000, Fernández was unable to run for a consecutive term as the 1994 constitution prohibited it.

His party held primaries to elect a presidential nominee, which were won by Danilo Medina with 52% of the votes against Vice-president Jaime David Fernández Mirabal.

Medina, who was sworn as the PLD candidate for the 2000 presidential election, was defeated by the PRD candidate, Hipólito Mejía.

Mejia did not satisfy the 50% rule to avoid a feared run-off election, but Medina, who placed second, recognized Mejia's win immediately.

Fernández was elected to a second term of office in the presidential election held on 16 May 2004 with an absolute majority and the second highest percentage ever in Dominican history of 57%.

He was sworn in on 16 August 2004.

His victory was due in large part to the collapse of the Dominican economy.

This collapse has been attributed to skyrocketing oil prices and a slumping international economy post-9/11, excessive borrowing under the Mejía administration and the failure of three banks in the country: Banco Intercontinental (Baninter), Bancrédito and Banco Mercantil.

In an effort to avoid further economic chaos, the Mejía administration effectively underwrote all three banks, repaying their customers but generating even greater public debt.

After 2010 Presidential election, PRSC lost briefly its official recognition as a majority party, but regained it after an alliance with PLD was announced by Leonel Fernández for 2010 mid-term elections, in where both parties achieved 100% of Senate positions and obtained over 2/3 of the seats on the Chamber of Deputies.

From 2016 until 2020, he was the President of the EU–LAC Foundation.

He has served as the party president of the Dominican Liberation Party from 2001 until his resignation on 20 October 2019.

He later founded the People's Force and nominated himself as its party's presidential nominee.

He is a native of Villa Juana, Distrito Nacional and lived for much of his childhood and early adulthood in New York City.

Leonel Fernández is the President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.

Fernandez is the son of sergeant major José Antonio Fernández Collado and Yolanda Reyna Romero.

His family moved to New York City in the United States.

They lived most of the time in the Washington Heights neighborhood, a dense Manhattan neighborhood, home to many Dominican New Yorkers.

After he finished high school, Fernandez returned to his country and started law studies in the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo.