Santo Domingo - Centre-right incumbent Leonel Fernandez was leading six other presidential candidates in the Dominican Republic in early election results, election authorities said late Friday.

With about 10 per cent of ballots counted, Fernandez had about 53 per cent of the vote.

His closest rival, social democrat Miguel Vargas, was at 41 per cent.

Fernandez, 54, can avoid a runoff to win a second consecutive term if he remains above 50 per cent in the first-round election. He was elected in 2004 and earlier serve a presidential term from 1996-2000.

Calm reigned during Friday's voting, which took place with 270 election observers in attendance across the Spanish-speaking country, which occupies the eastern half of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, shared with French-speaking Haiti.

A team of observers from the Organization of American States found that some of the Dominican's 13,000 polling stations were late in opening Friday morning, due to logistical problems. There were scattered complaints of attempts to buy identity documents on election day.

Fernandez's Party for Dominican Liberation controls both chambers of Congress. (dpa)