SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Officials say Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez is leading the presidential election with 53 percent of the vote and 10 percent of precincts reporting.

Official results from the Central Electoral Commission show that Fernandez has obtained 163,000 votes out of the 306,000 counted thus far. The former New Yorker needs to win at least 50 percent of all votes cast to avoid a run-off.

Fernandez is expected to easily capture the most ballots in Friday's election. Officials did not have numbers on how many of the country's 5.7 million eligible voters cast votes in 13,000 operating precincts.