Polling stations across Costa Rica opened early today for a presidential election that has split the country between an ultra-conservative evangelical preacher who slams gay rights and a former minister from the centre-left ruling party.<\/p>\n
The result will decide who rules the small Central American nation of five million people for the next four years.<\/p>\n
Pre-vote surveys suggest a neck-and-neck race between Fabricio Alvarado, a right-wing 43-year-old preacher, journalist and singer, and Carlos Alvarado (no relation), a 38-year-old former journalist who was a labor minister in the outgoing government.<\/p>\n
Fabricio Alvarado surged from nowhere in the first round of the election held in February, triumphing over a field of 13 candidates by fiercely criticizing gay marriage.<\/p>\n
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights in January urged the recognition of same-sex marriages, setting off a polarizing debate in Costa Rica. The country is both socially conservative and proud of its progressive human rights record.<\/p>\n
Carlos Alvarado, in contrast, ran on a broad campaign to tackle the priorities identified by his Citizens’ Action Party, which has been in power since 2014 under outgoing President Luis Guillermo Solis.<\/p>\n
Those issues include reining in a steadily climbing deficit, boosting education and upholding ecological standards.<\/p>\n
In the first round, the preacher won 25 percent of the ballots against 22 percent for the former labor minister — both well short of the 40 percent required to avoid a run-off.<\/p>\n
The last pre-election survey in March suggested a very tight election: Fabricio Alvarado was credited with 43 per cent support against 42 per cent for Carlos Alvarado.<\/p>\n
“Neither of the two candidates motivates me sufficiently to give my support,” the head of the small Liberal Progressive Party, Eli Feinzaig, wrote on his social media accounts.<\/p>\n
“But, ultimately, one of them has done enough to earn my clear and unequivocal repudiation,” he said, declaring he would vote for Carlos Alvarado.<\/p>\n
Winning over undecided or ambivalent voters was key for the candidates.<\/p>\n
“The population still isn’t clear on what development model it wants,” a political analyst from the Latin American Social Sciences Institute, Gustavo Araya, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“This is a photo finish. It isn’t statistically clear who will be the victor between these opposing platforms,” he said.<\/p>\n
Some 3.3 million voters were being called to decide the election.<\/p>\n
Polling was taking place on Easter Sunday, at the end of a four-day holiday weekend. Roads back to the capital San Jose were choked as many voters drove back home to cast their ballots.<\/p>\n
Others had yet to make up their minds.<\/p>\n
“Voting is so difficult. The two who are left aren’t to my taste. I don’t know if I’m going to vote. Truly, I’m undecided,” said Ligia Vargas, a street vendor who sells fruits and juice in the main city park.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Polling stations across Costa Rica opened early today for a presidential election that has split the country between an ultra-conservative evangelical preacher who slams gay rights and a former minister from the centre-left ruling party. The result will decide who rules the small Central American nation of five million people for the next four years. Pre-vote surveys suggest a neck-and-neck race between Fabricio Alvarado, a right-wing 43-year-old preacher, journalist and singer, and Carlos Alvarado (no relation), a 38-year-old former journalist who was a labor minister in the outgoing government. Fabricio…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8698,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8696\/revisions\/8698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}