SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Vin Diesel has stopped chasing bad guys long enough to endorse the president of the Dominican Republic for re-election. Diesel appears in a Dominican campaign commercial urging a vote for his friend, President Leonel Fernandez.

The endorsement first aired Wednesday on local TV stations and is paired with movie clips that show Diesel running, driving and surviving a bomb explosion. The 40-year-old actor says he visits the Dominican Republic about once a year and owns a home on the country's eastern coast.

About 5.7 million of the Dominican Republic's 9 million people are registered to vote in the May 16 general elections. Fernandez is running against construction magnate Miguel Vargas Maldonado.

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