Luis

Rodolfo Abinader was sworn in as president of the Dominican Republic on Sunday

in a ceremony attended by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Abinader, a 53-year-old

businessman who had never held elected office, was elected to a four-year term

on July 5, ending a 16-year run in power by a center-left party. He finished

second in the 2016 presidential election.

On Friday, the Trump

administration only got support from the Dominican Republic when the 15-member

UN Security Council resoundingly defeated a US resolution to indefinitely

extend the UN arms embargo on Iran.

“This election resounds as

an example to other nations of the power of democracy and what is possible when

countries prioritize the wishes of their people,” Pompeo tweeted after

Abinader’s inauguration.

The elections in the

Dominican Republic took place as the new coronavirus pandemic was sweeping

across the Caribbean nation of some 10.5 million people. Abinader himself had

spent weeks before the election in isolation following a positive test for the

virus, and the vote itself had been postponed from May due to COVID-19, the

disease caused by the virus.