THE TRIUMPH OF THE CENTER-LEFT IN COSTA RICA
By Manuel E. Yepe A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann. Although there was an historical abstention of 3.1 million voters, representing a 43.2% of the total, the candidate of the center-left party Partido Accion Ciudadana (PAC), Luis Guillermo Solís, won out-and-out in the presidential election in Costa Rica. It was an election with unique features, considering that the former city mayor, Johnny Araya --who had won the right to continue as candidate to the second round, because he had come out second in the first round-- unexpectedly withdrew from the campaign, claiming lack of support and money, when he knew that the polls predicted a humiliating defeat for him. However, as the electoral legislation of Costa Rica does not admit waiving candidacy in such circumstances, Araya’s name and photograph appeared on the ballot, as the “ghost” candidate, along with the surprising opposition candidate, Solis, who eventually won 77.87% of the actual votes. Thus, he surpassed, by nearly 30 thousand votes, the million that he had set as his goal to really feel legitimized and "so there is no doubt of the willingness for change". The landslide victory of the 55-year-old university professor, political scientist and historian Luis Guillermo Solís, described at the beginning of the campaign as "an unknown person of warm PR, who won the support of a population that believes less and less in politicians and calls for changes after decades of bipartisanship and two consecutive governments of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN)”, confirms the continued Latin American drift towards the left, and against "partycracy" and corruption. In the first round on February 2nd, Solis had won, against all odds, with 30.6% of the votes; but he did not reach the 40% Costa Rican electoral law requires to be proclaimed President in the first round. Araya, the government candidate, obtained 29.7% of the vote at that time and was entitled to dispute the victory over Solis in the second round. Solis will replace the first woman in the highest office of Costa Rica. Laura Chinchilla, whose government qualifies as the most unpopular of the last twenty years, which leaves the country with a fiscal deficit of 6%, an internal debt that represents 60% of its GNP and the sad first place of inequality growth in Latin America in 2013. This will be the first time in over half a century that a non-traditional party, such as the PAC, comes to power in Costa Rica. The PAC has existed for only 13 years as a challenge to the two-party system. "I am not a traditional politician," Solis had declared to the press. "The country does not want another professional politician, because these are identified with many of the abuses that have been committed in public administration.” Luis Guillermo Solís was active in the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), of which he became general secretary. He quit the party in 2005 to join the PAC, which now made him its candidate in the presidential run that he won. He quit PLN in a public letter accusing the party of being in the hands of an "opportunistic and reactionary leadership." He said then that the party had made a shift to the right and was promoting neo-liberalism, which undermined the social progress that had made Costa Rica stand out in Central America. Solis has stated that during his term he will prioritize ethics in public service as well as the fight against poverty, which in Costa Rica affects about 20% of its nearly five million people. "We want to combat poverty effectively, not just to manage it," he said alluding to his former party and now rival, the PLN, "which specializes in managing poverty because in recent decades it has given them political profit through a “client policy”. As this is the first time the PAC has come to power, he said that one of his main challenges is precisely to head his party's first administration. He expects this to be a strength and not a weakness, because, not having governed before, his party has "greater margins of autonomy" and can "make decisions without being constrained by previous commitments." He has publicly declared that the models that seem more interesting to him in Latin America are: the Chilean model, under Bachelet’s administration; the Uruguayan model, under President Mujica; and Brazil’s, under the consecutive administrations of Fernando Henrique-Lula-Dilma. He declares that he is attracted to an important part of the Ecuadorian experience with Rafael Correa; and impressed by the progress of Colombia under President Santos. April 9, 2014. |
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TRIUNFO DE LA
CENTROIZQUIERDA EN COSTA RICA
Por
Manuel E. Yepe
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