Arias Dominates Presidential Elections Race
Former president and Nobel Prize winner for peace, Óscar Arias Sánchez, remains the top presidential hopeful, according to a poll by Demoscopia published in Al Día.

35.8% of respondents would vote for Arias in next year’s election.

In March 2004, the 63-year-old Arias officially announced his intention to run for president again as the candidate for the National Liberation Party (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 Citizens Action Party (PAC) is second with 12.8%, followed by Antonio Álvarez Desanti of the Union for Change (UPC) with 10.4%, Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement (ML) with 8.2%, and Ricardo Toledo of the Social-Christian Unity Party (PUSC) with 7.3%.

The governing PUSC of current president Abel Pacheco has not settled on a definite presidential candidate. Along with Toledo, former government officials Guillermo Vargas, Víctor Morales, Germán Serrano and Everardo Rodríguez will seek the nomination.

Yesterday in Washington, Arias advocated for the swift passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), calling the proposed deal "an unparalleled opportunity to transform Central America into a dynamic economy deeply integrated with worldwide flows of trade and technology."

The election is in February 2006.

Polling Data

If the presidential election took place today, which candidate would you vote for?

Source: Demoscopia / Al Día
Methodology: Interviews to 1,200 Costa Rican adults, conducted from May 21 to Jun. 1, 2005. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.