Dominican Republic results delayed

The governing party in the Dominican Republic has called on the electoral authorities to publish final results from the presidential voting on Tuesday as soon as possible.

The call follows an unexplained delay in the counting, which was broken off on Wednesday.

The Central Electoral Board said it had sent ballot counters home to rest; several hours later they had not yet returned to work.

With most votes counted, the main opposition candidate, Hipolito Mejia of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, claimed victory, and hundreds of his supporters celebrated on the streets of the capital, Santo Domingo. If Mr Mejia fails to win a majority of the vote he will enter another round of voting along with the second-placed candidate.

The BBC correspondent in the region says that as the supporters of the second and third placed candidates are natural allies, any one of the three candidates could still win the presidency if the voting goes to a second round.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service