Voters in the Dominican Republic are set to defy rising coronavirus infections on Sunday to choose a new president in an election that could end 16 years of unbroken rule by the center-left Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). 

Opposition candidate Luis Abinader is favorite, having taken a commanding lead in opinion polls despite being forced to abandon his campaign after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Abinader, a 52-year-old businessman, had recovered sufficiently to close out his campaign at a rally on Wednesday. "Change is coming and the PLD is going," he promised a crowd of hundreds of his supporters, allowed to gather after the government eased lockdown measures. 

A Gallup poll put Abinader, from the opposition Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), on 53 percent, 20 points ahead of the ruling PLD party's Gonzalo Castillo. Another poll gave Abinader a 12-point margin. 

"The Dominican people should remember that a president is elected in one day, but the consequences last for four years," Castillo told a crowd of his supporters in the town of Monte Plata. 

'Come what may' 

A state of emergency was lifted only this week as parties made a final drive for votes. 

The election date has already been pushed back from May 17 but will go ahead "come what may" on Sunday, said the president of the Central Electoral Board, Julio Cesar Castanos.

The authority's advice to voters is: "Put your mask on and get out and vote." 

Despite health protocols being put in place at polling stations, Health Minister Rafael Sanchez Cardenas said it would be "practically impossible" not to have fresh outbreaks of COVID-19. 

"We have to get beyond this line of 5th of July, hoping that there won't be an overflow of cases and that we will be able to respond," the minister said. 

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The pandemic has also hit the Republic's 600,000 overseas voters - representing almost eight percent of the electoral roll. 

Most live in the United States, Spain and Puerto Rico, where voting has been taking place. However, expatriates in Italy and Panama have not been authorized to vote because of coronavirus restrictions in place in those countries. 

The Dominican Republic has one of the strongest-growing economies in the Caribbean region, recording on average 6.3 percent expansion a year between 2013 and 2018, according to the World Bank. 

However, the pandemic risks pushing it back into poverty, the World Bank warned. 

Flights to the country resumed on Wednesday as borders reopened in the hope of salvaging tourism revenue.

(With input from agencies)