History

With Balaguer prevented from running, the June 1996 presidential election was won by Leonel Fernández Reyna of the PLD. In May 2000 the PRD's Hipólito Mejía was elected to a 4-year term as president.

His presidency saw major inflation and instability of the peso. During his time as president, the relatively stable unit of currency fell from ~ 16 DOP (Dominican Pesos) to 1 USD (United States Dollar) to ~ 60 DOP to 1 USD, and was in the 50s to a dollar when he left office. In May 2004,

Leonel Fernández Reyna was again elected to a 4-year term as president and inaugurated on August 16 , 2004 . Reyna's administration has since then managed to deflate the peso and has increased its stability since the administration of Mejía. The peso is currently at the exchange rate of ~31 DOP to 1 USD.