President and Cabinet Ministers Cannot
Participate In Politics
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, and his
ministers cannot participate in politics for
the 2010 presidential elections, following a
failed attempt to change the country's
Código Electoral (Elections Code).
The change to allow the president and
cabinet ministers to participate politically
in the presidential elections was spurred by
legislators for the Partido Liberación
Nacional (PLN) - governing party.
However, members of the Comisión Especial de
Partidos Políticos which is comprised also
of legislators for the Partido Acción
Ciudadana (PAC) and Unidad Social Cristiana
(PUSC) parties, decided not to support the
initiative.
Lorena Vásquez, of the PUSC, said that such
a change would be a detriment to the
political process, given the popularity of
Arias.
For now the issue is a closed one.
President Arias, who has been reprimanded by
the Elections Tribunal in the past year for
making political statements, mainly to
promote the election of Laura Chinchilla as
party candidate, saying he would like to see
a woman follow his presidency and that Costa
Ricans are ready for a woman to lead them,
now is obliged to stay on the sidelines.
Carlos Pérez, who proposed the changes,
argues that the president and his cabinet
should be allowed to take part in the
political process, being allowed to exercise
their civil rights.
"It is natural to have political
tendencies", said Pérez, who believes that
discussion on the subject will continue and
a change is coming for the future.
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Costa Rican
president, Oscar Arias, is prohibited from
showing publicly his support for his former
vice-president and "his" candidate for
president in 2010, Laura Chinchilla. |
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