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General elections were held in the Dominican Republic on 20 December 1962.[1] They were the first after the end of the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship two years earlier, as well as the first with no military candidates for president since 1938. They are generally regarded to be the first free elections in the country's history.
Juan Bosch of the democratic socialist Dominican Revolutionary Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. There was also an election for a Constituent National Assembly, which was to amend certain articles of the constitution.[2] However, reforms implemented by Bosch alienated the American government and the local oligarchy, leading to a coup the following year,[3] and eventually the Dominican Civil War. Voter turnout was 65%.[4]