Show Standard-Examine- Saturday r May 19 1990 7A World Dominican board orders recount in contested race SANTO DOMINGO Dominican Republic (AP) — The Central Electoral Board ordered a recount Friday of the tight presidential race after challenger Juan Bosch accused the board and incumbent President Joaquin Balaguer of fraud Bosch at the same time withdrew his threat to lead street demonstrations protesting the vote count which went into its third day Friday The recount could delay the outcome of Wednesday’s general election by two more days or longer officials said presiBalaguer a five-tim- e dent who is 83 and blind and Bosch 80 a former president who was overthrown in a 1963 military coup were locked in their fifth race for the presidency of this Caribbean nation of 7 million people Balaguer won three of the four previous races With 87 percent of polling stations reporting Balaguer led Bosch by less than 1 1500 votes according to the Central Electoral Board Balaguer had 570459 votes and Bosch 558979 with 5780 of the 6663 polling stations reporting official results showed Jose Francisco Pena Gomez a former socialist mayor of Santo Domingo and a former Bosch o protege was a distant third with 373058 Former President Jimmy Carter one of 30 international observers of the voting announced the decision to review the vote count at a news conference Friday afternoon "Any fraud or honest errors will be discovered and resolved” said Carter reading in Spanish from a statement n signed jointly by him and Tavares the Central Electoral Board president Carter said all eight presidential candidates approved the procedure under which vote totals obtained by the four main parties will be checked against tallies received by the electoral board He said Bosch called off a street demonstration planned for Friday and was cooperating “Neither Professor Bosch nor any of the candidates presented to me any evidence of fraud” Carter said in answer to questions He said there were some complaints about minor errors “but I have no doubt these errors can be corrected” 0 Look In This Fro-ila- The electoral board announced on television Thursday night that election law barred public demonstrations while the vote count continued The an SUNDAY’S NEWSPAPER FOR OVER WORTH OF FOOD COUPONS AND MONEY SAVINGS OFFERS m savings don’t add pJhinkIn those month an nouncement was repeated sever- al times On Friday morning a scuffle broke out when Bosch arrived at his Dominican Liberation Party headquarters where about 200 supporters had gathered Reports conflicted as to what happened Party vice president Ellidio Baez said an army intelligence agent stepped from the crowd and pulled a gun on Bosch as he stepped from a car while two other men “pushed Bosch readers &up? average can find nearly $10000 worth of coupons in the Sunday I Standard-Examine- r around” Romanian protesters defy ban Hundreds refusing to leave Bucharest - BUCHAREST Romania (AP) of demonstrators defied a ban on — Hundreds political rallies Friday and vowed to remain in central Bucharest until Romania has a government untainted by links to Nicolae Come See Our Ceausescu “Our round-the-cloc- INVENTORY CLEARANCE SPECIALS protest k will continue until we get our liberty back until democracy is restored in our country!” protest leader Dumitru Dinca shouted to demonstrators in downtown Uni- versity Square Bucharest’s main traffic artery They have occupied the square since April 22 demanding that interim president Ion lliescu and other former Communists quit politics lliescu who became in- -' terim president after the over- throw execution and of Ceausescu in December is heavily favored in Sunday’s presidential election lliescu had said the protesters should be “cleaned out” of the square after the campaign officially closed Thursday Campaigning and political rallies are banned the last two days of the campaign But Premier Petre Roman that the government — which is under intense intern ed tionai scrutiny over Su elections — had decided to toier-at-c the demonstrators’ “violation of the law” for the time being Dinca said if the government had tried to oust the demonstrators “it would have been with violence because nobody in the square would have left this sacred place” “Above our heads and above their heads a second revolution would have burst out” he said “If they try to disperse us with violence and not meet our demands I believe these people who hunger for liberty and are fed up with communism will try a second revolution” he told the crowd “I prefer to stay here and face a bulldozer than a dictatorship" said Dumitru Duduman 30 a forestry worker who has been liv-ing in one of the dozens of tents pitched around the square The protest drew tens of thou- sands of people Thursday night But lliescu and his National Sal- ' vation Front which came to power after the December revolu-- I lion remain heavy favorites to ) win the presidency and a majori- parliament ty in the The vote Sunday will be Romania's first free election in 53 years iiiescu's two opponents in the ’ presidential race are Radu Cam- pcanu and Ion Ratiu 506-se- at : ft o( D 'A n io (tt:th r : OIKMMaMOB 90 DAYS FREE FINANCING Thanks For Your Business |