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Topic: Costa Rica: Election cliffhanger
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rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710
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posted 06 February 2006 01:19 AM
For insomniac election-junkies:Although US press outlets were quick to award victory to Nobel prize winner Oscar Arias, the actual election results currently dribbling in are far from definitive. ABC declared Arias the winner shortly after the polls closed based on exit polls indicating that he had beaten Ottón Solis 45% to 37%. However, with half the votes counted, the difference between the two presidential candidates is just 3,500 votes, about 0.4%. A key election issue was CAFTA, the Central America Free Trade Agreement. Arias wants to see the deal signed, while Solis rejects the deal in its current form, which he feels will hurt Costa Rican farmers. Arias' party, Liberación Nacional, appears to be slated to win 25 of the 57 seats in congress. Watch the results here (in Spanish, but it's pretty easy to figure out)
From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002
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rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710
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posted 06 February 2006 10:04 AM
Still too close to call; we won't have the official results until tomorrow, and there is likely to be a very close scrutiny of the votes. With 85% of the votes counted, Arias's apparent margin had started to drop again, to 0.39% (40.59% to 40.20%).Costa Rican election laws require a second vote between the two top runners only if the winner fails to achieve 40%, unlike most countries where a second ballot is required if the winner fails to achieve an absolute majority of valid votes. The congress, which comprises 57 deputies, is elected by a proportional representation system with separate lists in each of the seven provinces. The PLN (Arias's party and a member of the Socialist International) appears to have won 25 seats against 18 for Solis's PAC. Both parties are essentially centrist. The right-wing Libertarian Party, whose candidate Otto Guevara won about 8.5% of the presidential vote, will probably be represented by 6 deputies, while the devasted PUSC (the current governing party) will be reduced to 4 or 5. Costa Rica is the only country in the CAFTA negotiations which has not yet ratified the free trade treaty. Although Arias strongly favours ratification, the surprisingly close presidential vote and PLN's failure to achieve a congressional majority leave the issue still in question. No-one is making any statements until tomorrow when the election results are clearer. [ 06 February 2006: Message edited by: Rici Lake ]
From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002
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rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710
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posted 06 February 2006 02:19 PM
In a press conference, Oscar Arias said that if elected, he would have to think seriously about the half of Costa Ricans who did not support him. quote: "Realmente deberé aplicar el lema de mi campaña que dice 'Soy todo oídos'. Soy una persona negociadora, conciliadora.""I will really have to apply the slogan of my campaign -- 'I'm all ears'. I'm a negotiator, a conciliator.
Despite his support of CAFTA, Arias is far from a Bushite; in fact, he likes to compare himself with Bill Clinton. A poll last year indicated that 70% of Costa Ricans wanted CAFTA to be put to a referendum.
From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002
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rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710
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posted 06 February 2006 06:45 PM
quote: Clinton was both a CAFTA and NAFTA supporter.
Indeed, as does Arias. And Solis says he supported the CAFTA initiative, too; however, he believes that the CAFTA which was negotiated will damage Costa Rica.In practice, it seems incredibly unlikely that the US will renegotiate CAFTA even if Solis wins. But the surprise result definitely sends a message to the three countries currently negotiating the Andean Free Trade Agreement with the United States (Perú, Colombia and Ecuador), all of which have elections this year. As for Costa Rica, the country appears to be in a sort of electoral comma, if not semi-colon. The Costa Rican Election Tribunal has decided to recount all million presidential ballots one-by-one, promising an official results within 15 days. As of a couple of hours ago, the preliminary results showed a difference of just 3,250 votes based on 88.5% of the polls.
From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002
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rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710
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posted 22 February 2006 01:45 PM
After two weeks of laborious recounting, Costa Rica's electoral commission (TSE) is expected to announce the final presidential count today. Less than 5% of the polls were still unverified at the start of the day.In addition to the recount, the TSE must deal with more than 500 challenges before announcing the official results. As of last night, Óscar Arias was leading by some 10,000 votes. Since all of the polls being recounted today are from the same district, in which Arias has a significant advantage over Ottón Solís, it seems likely that Arias will be declared the victor. What this means for the future of CAFTA is less clear. The treaty is currently before the Costarican Legistature's Committee on International Relations, which some time ago announced that no decision would be made until the election results were clear. The TLC was a key campaign issue, and Solís's vote, which was much higher than predicted by opinion polls, is a clear indication of popular opposition to the TLC.
From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002
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robbie_dee
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 195
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posted 14 March 2006 01:30 PM
Otton Solis concedes (BBC 3/4/06) quote: Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias is to become Costa Rica's president for the second time, after his rival in a close-fought election conceded defeat. An election was held nearly a month ago, but Otton Solis has only now given up after losing a manual recount and a series of legal challenges. Mr Arias is committed to taking Costa Rica into a controversial free trade pact with the United States. His prize was for leading talks to end two 1980s Central American civil wars. Mr Arias, 65, had enjoyed a big lead over his rival in opinion polls. But far from the easy victory that had been predicted for him, the election on 5 February became Costa Rica's hardest-fought vote in the last four decades, with the two leading candidates virtually neck-and-neck.
[ 14 March 2006: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]
From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001
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