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ELECTION 2006:
Arias Could Win in First
Round
Óscar Arias Sánchez could once
again become the president of
Costa Rica, according to a poll
by Demoscopia published in
Spanish language daily, Al Día.
46.2% of respondents would vote
for Arias in next year’s
election.
In March 2004, Arias officially
announced his intention to run
for president again as the
candidate for the Partido
Liberarción Nacional (PLN). The
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly
opted to bring back presidential
re-election in 2003. Arias
headed the government from 1986
to 1990.
Ottón Solís of the Partido
Acción Cuidadana (PAC) is second
with 21.5%, followed by Otto
Guevara of the Movimiento
Libertario (ML) with 13%,
Antonio Álvarez Desanti of the
Union para Cambio (UPC) with
8.4%, Ricardo Toledo of the
governing Partido Unidad Social
Cristiana (PUSC) with 4.8% per
cent, and José Manuel Echandi of
the Partido Union Nacional (PUN)
with 4.7%.
Commenting on the poll’s
results, Arias prognosticated a
"wide victory" in the election,
while Solís said, "We keep
growing and we will catch up to
Óscar soon enough."
The PUSC’s Abel Pacheco was
elected in a run-off in April
2002 with 58 per cent of the
vote. The election is scheduled
for Feb. 5, 2006. If no
candidate garners more than 40
per cent of all cast ballots, a
run-off would take place on Apr.
2, 2006.
Polling Data
If the presidential election
took place today, which
candidate would you vote for?
| |
Dec. 2005 |
Aug. 2005 |
Jun. 2005 |
|
↑
Óscar Arias (PLN) |
46.2% |
36.5% |
35.8% |
|
↑
Ottón Solís (PAC) |
21.5% |
10.6% |
12.8% |
|
↑
Otto Guevara (ML) |
13.0% |
6.7% |
8.2% |
|
↓
Antonio Álvarez Desanti (UPC) |
8.4% |
10.4% |
10.4% |
|
↓
Ricardo Toledo (PUSC) |
4.8% |
5.4% |
7.3% |
|
José Manuel Echandi (PUN) |
4.7% |
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Source: Demoscopia / Al Día
Methodology: Interviews with
1,202 Costa Rican adults,
conducted from Nov. 29 to Dec.
6, 2005. Margin of error is 2.8
per cent.
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