Presidential Race Closer
With only two days before Costa Ricans get set to vote for a new president, the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) leader, Oscar Arias, is dropping in the polls, according to the latest poll.

A poll conducted by Unimer-RI places Arias in first place with 42.6% of the intended vote, down from 49.6% last week, and second place Ottón Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC)climbing fast at 31.5%, up from 26.3% from a few days ago.

To win the presidency, a candidate needs to obtain at least 40% of the popular vote, failing which would mean a run off vote in April.

The first time that a run off election was held in Costa Rica's political history was in the 2002 elections when neither of the top two presidential candidates obtained the required 40%. Solís, in third place in 2002, forced the run off election that saw Abel Pacheco to the presidential chair.

Experts say that the drop in Arias' numbers is due to a number of factors, one being that the nation's abstentionism has dropped while hardline Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) party supporters are coming back to back their candidate, Ricardo Toledo, not in support of Toledo but in support of the party showing badly in the election.

Loss of faith in politicians, hopelessness, disappointment and even religious bans on voting were the main reasons given by those deciding to abstain.

Traditionally the PUSC and PLN have alternated power until in 2002 when Pacheco of the PUSC took over Miguel Angel Rodríguez, also of PUSC.

In 2002, the PAC made a strong presence in the elections, something that no third party had ever done before. Definitely Costa Rican politics has changed, as voters are moving more and more with each election closer to smaller parties.

The obvious reason for the poor PUSC standing is due to the current presidents low points in the opinion polls and that two former PUSC presidents - Rodríguez and Rafael Angel Calderón - are both involved in pay off scandals and spent some months in jail then under house arrest and are currently on bail waiting their respective trials.

Although there is the possibility of a run off election, given the change in the mood of voters, apathy persists as the outcome of an Arias win is widely expected.