Costa Ricans to take part in the president election process started on Sunday, they will cast their votes for a record number of candidates.
The current presidential race in Costa Rica characterized by more than two dozen candidates. In fact, not one of the 25 politicians is expected to win more than 40% of votes, the threshold needed to avoid a run-off.
The Center for Research and Political Studies of the University of Costa Rica says that the election is likely to lead to a second-round vote in early April. The race to replace center-left President Carlos Alvarado after his four-year term is wide open as about one-third of voters in the country of about 5 million people have not made up their minds about who to back, the experts suggest quoting the Tuesday polls.
While there were a lot of names on the ballot paper, none had credible proposals to address unemployment in the Central American nation. Former President Jose Maria Figueres, who governed from 1994 to 1998 under the centrist National Liberation Party, has a tentative lead in the opinion polls at about 17% of the vote.
According to the recent poll, the former conservative Vice President Lineth Saborio (2002-2006) of the center-right Christian Social Unity (PUSC) party on 13%, and evangelical preacher Fabricio Alvarado of the neo-Pentecostal New Republic Party on 10.3%. Polls will close at 6:00 PM local time, Reuters reported.
