Pacheco Says He Will Vote Early; Election Is Boring
If anyone is interested, president Abel Pacheco said yesterday that he will be out early on Sunday February 5, to vote in the elections to for president, vice-president, legislative deputies, regional directors and municipal leaders.

President Pacheco will be voting at the Escuela Carlos Sanabria in Pavas. He said he will be there early and then head off to Casa Presidencial where he will spend the rest of the morning answering reporter questions and keeping close contact with officials of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), the government body that oversees the election process.

Pacheco said he will be available in the event of an occurrence, which he believes will not happen because the country is calm and Costa Rica has a history of peaceful elections.

The president said that he has kept "neutral" and will continue to do so. "I will stick around (Casa Presidencial) for a while and then go hom, so that I can follow the elections on television", he assured.

President Pacheco lives in a quiet community in Rohrmoser and has a police guard outside his home 24 hours, a normal practice by police given to the president and foreing ambassadors.

Pacheco also said that he will receive at Casa Presidencial on Saturday (Feb 4) an group of international observes that include a group from the Organization of American States (OAS), the group that Pacheco's predecessor, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, headed for a month in 2004, before returning to Costa Rica face charges of corruption and taking bribes.

"The election has become a little boring. Yesterday, I counted only four (politica) flags on cars and no bumper stickers between by house (Rohrmoser) and Casa Presidencial (Zapote). The enthusiasm has gone, according to the polls, as Oscar nears the 50% mark", said the president.

What are the other candidates doing on election day? A poll by the Spanish daily Diario Extra reveals much of the same. Vote early and then home to family and friends to wait out the results.