Presidential Count Continues; Ballots Will Then Used for Toilet Paper
Despite anything to the contrary, the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), has not proclaimed a winner in Sunday's presidential elections, and according to Oscar Fonseca, president of the TSE, there will not be any until all the ballots have been manually counted.

Both presidential candidates, Oscar Arias of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) and Ottón Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC0 are calling for patience and calm as the TSE does its job. Understandly upset, both men have put on a brave face before the cameras.

The difference following the count of the remaining ballots following the electronic count on Sunday, resulted in an Arias advantage over Solís of 10.539 votes.

The TSE is emphatic that there will be no winner until the manual vote is complete and that could take the rest of the month.

The difficulty faced by TSE officials is the number of "spoiled" ballots which has forced a close scrutiny of each and every ballot cast, thus taking time for the count.

Numbers have been floating in all directions, unofficially, of course. One report yesterday placed Arias ahead of Solís by thousands, while other reports put the count much closer, at only a 618 vote difference.

In another report, again unofficially, the PAC was up 72.067 and the PLN down by 82.606 votes

No matter which report one wants to believe, the winner will not be proclaimed until all the counting is done.

What is important to keep in mind that only the TSE can proclaim a winner and officials have been adamant that there will not be any such "official" proclamation until the count is done and is asking the two candidates to keep calm and let the due process take its course.

What is sure for the time being is that the 7.7 million pieces of paper that make up 60 tonnes, once the count is in and a president named, will be converted into toilet paper that will be used in many Costa Rican homes.

Jaime Madriz, Contralo Electoral, said yesterday that once they are finished with the ballots and a president elected, the ballots are kept under close guard for a period of seven months, just in case there is a need for a recount or to clear up any other discrepancies, a public bid will go out to have the paper recycled and the company that offers the best deal will be awarded the contract.

Madriz added that the TSE cannot receive any payment for the ballots, it can only give out the contract to the company that offers the most benefit for the country. Under this system, Madriz says that the TSE does not spend any money from it's budget for items like toilet paper, napkins, etc. The winner bidder supplies the TSE with those items and sells off the balance of the recycled product.

The TSE takes great care in making sure that the ballots are kept under tight security during the entire process, not losing track of any single piece of paper, until the moment they are recycled.