Record Number of Political Parties Registered for 2006 Election
According to figures released by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) - the government agency in charge of the upcoming elections - there has been an increase in the number of political parties that will participate in the February 2006 election.

In the 2002 election, 49 political parties were registered. In the 2006 election a total of 70 political parties are registered, an increase of 21.

Most of the increase is in regional and provincial parties But more significant are the number of parties that will be also fielding a presidential candidate.

In the past, there have been two main stream parties - the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) and the Partido Liberacíon Nacional (PLN) - which have alternated holding power. In the 2002 election, the Partido Accion Nacional (PAC), headed by Ottón Solís, made a bid for the presidential chair and forced a run off election that saw a major change in presidential politics in the country.

For the 2006 election, at least six political parties will be be fielding presidential hopefuls. Former president and Nobel Prize winner, Oscar Arias Sanchez, is ahead of the pack and is expected to take the presidential chair, however, February is a long time off in political terms.

The TSE also says that they expect a 40% absenteeism in the voting in 2006. A recent poll by the Spanish language newspaper Al Día shows that 45% of the Ticos are undecided or have no intention of voting.

The 2006 election promises to be an interesting one. Costa Rica's political constitution states that a presidential hopeful must obtain 40% of the popular vote. Coming ahead of the pack is not enough.

What the 40% rule means is that for every 100 voters, the winning candidate must have at least 40 votes, failing, there is no winner declared. The two candidates with the highest number of percentage of the votes will have to face a second election to determine a winner.

It is that rule that forced the 2002 run off election, when the PUSC candidate, Abel Pacheco and the PLN candidate, José Miguel Corrales, each failed to reach 40% of the vote,. The PAC candidate Solís took many votes from each, forcing a second election where Pacheco was then elected president.