SANTO DOMINGO.- Three polls released Monday and Tuesday give Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernandez a first ballot win in Friday’s election with an average of 54 percent of the votes, and his closest rival, Miguel Vargas Maldonado, an average of 35 percent.

The surveys by pollsters Asisa Research Group, Zogby International, and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner say support for Fernandez, candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party, is enough for a win in the first ballot against Vargas Maldonado, candidate of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, and a minister in the former administration.

The Asisa poll, emailed to the media Monday morning, was conducted from April 27 to May 1, with 25,535 registered voters, has a margin of error of 0.61 percentage points, whereas the Greenberg survey, published by newspaper Diario Libre, was made between April 30 and May 5, with 1,199 eligible voters, has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.

The latest study, by Zogby International, was done with 1,210 persons, with a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

To win the election a candidate needs fifty percent plus one vote. Should none of the contenders get more than half the votes, a second ballot will be held June 30.