Costa Rica to elect President Óscar Arias’ successor

By María Córdoba

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica - The three top candidates vying for the Costa Rican presidency, Laura Chinchilla, Otto Guevara and Ottón Solís, took their campaigns to the streets for a final push to win voters for the Feb. 7 election.

Chinchilla is on the verge of making history, as the representative of the National Liberation Party (social democrat) is positioned to become the country's first female president. Chinchilla, who is expected to receive 41.9% of the vote according to the latest poll results, led a massive rally in downtown San José that drew an estimated crowd of 70,000.

"We will not rest until the polls close," said Carlos Alberto Rojas Roverssi, Chinchilla's director of media relations. "We will encourage our local leaders and continue explaining our proposals to the Costa Ricans, asking them to join us with their trust and prayers."

Meantime, Guevara, of the conservative Libertarian Movement who is second in the polls with 22.9% of the vote, walked the streets of the nation's capital to promote his "Rally for Change."

Solís, of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC), an organization that leans to the liberal side, is third according to the latest polls, with 19.9% of the vote. But he hoped to increase his supporters by pounding the campaign trail in his hometown of Pérez Zeledón in the southern part of the country. Solís' staff members also promoted their candidate by driving vehicles across the nation, urging people to vote for the PAC.

An estimated 2.8 million Costa Ricans are eligible to vote in an election that will determine the president, two vice presidents, 57 members of congress and members of municipal councils.

The candidates' actions as the election nears have revitalized a race that had become stagnant in recent months, which led many Ticos to lose interest in who would replace outgoing President Óscar Arias.

"The campaign has now captured the attention of people in a manner contrary to what the parties' publicists expected," said Ricardo Sol, director of the program of civil society and participation of the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (Funpadem in Spanish). "The substance of this reaction cannot be blamed on the contents of the campaign, but [on] the large majority of the population's disappointment with politics and politicians."

Sol said Costa Ricans' disinterest in the election may increase absenteeism at the polls.

"A democracy that only consults their citizens when it is time to elect authorities tends to weaken an election," he said.

It will be imperative the country's next president involves citizens in the shaping of the country upon taking office. Ticos are very concerned with an escalating crime rate and a sagging economy - two topics that were major parts of each candidate's platform.

"The challenges facing the new administration begin with improving the fiscal situation," said Rudolf Lücke Bolaños of the Institute for Research in Economic Sciences at the University of Costa Rica. "The government had developed a countercyclical fiscal policy, which led to the deterioration of finances. The new government must resolve this problem if it wants to develop an appropriate economic policy."

Source: Infosurhoy.com-05/02/2010

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