219,000 New Voters
On next National Election Day, February 5, 2006, 219,154 Costa Ricans will be entitled to cast their ballots for the first time.

The new voters represent 9.4% of the overall number of registered voters.

The electoral register includes 2,550,613 citizens, 1,275,557 of which are women and 1,275,056 men – a difference of only 501.

These figures were disclosed by the president of the Tribunales Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) that oversees elections and the registro civil (civil registry), Oscar Fonseca, once the definite electoral roll was known.

Fonseca explained that the even though the new voters are mostly young people who have reached voting age, 18, there are many foreigners who have adopted Costa Rican citizenship and even older people who had never registered and who will also vote for the first time the first Sunday in February.