Apathy Reigned Over Municipal Elections
With an average of 79.61%, absenteeism was the big winner in yesterdays municipal elections that saw a majority of the PLN candidates winning the mayoral races, including incumbent Johnny Araya in San José.

The polls opened at 6:00am, however the majority of Costa Ricans decided to take in the hot sunny weather and the Sunday soccer games than head for the voting stations.

On the voters list were 2.6 million Costa Ricans who were asked to choose their municipal leaders in 81 municipalities around the country. For whatever reason, Costa Ricans had little interest in what the 375 mayoral candidates had to say in an election that had no sizzle.

Óscar Fonseca, the president of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE)- the body governing all elections in the country - said that the municipal elections should be spaced farther apart from the presidential elections and that could be one of the main reasons for yesterday's poor voter turnout.

Another reason cited by Fonseca, is the lack of government funding for municipal elections.

Fonseca, said that changes are needed for the 2010 elections, otherwise absenteeism will continue to be high.

"Yes it hurts because the state made an enormous effort. We have spent ¢3 billion colones. What this means is that the major part of that money is lost", said the TSE president.

This is the second time that Costa Ricans get to choose their municipal leaders directly. In the first municipal elections in 2002, only 22.8% of the voters turned, just slightly higher than yesterday.

The only evidence that an election was going on was the prohibition on the sale of alcohol in bars, cantinas, restaurants and supermarkets.

When the said and done was over, the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) - the same party as president Oscar Arias - was the big winner, electing 59 of the 81 mayors. All the major cities - San José, Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, Puntarenas and Limón - elected PLN candidates.

In San José, Johnny Araya begins his fourth term in office (only the second to be elected) easily won over the other 22 candidates looking to sit in the chair that he has occupied for the last fifteen years.

Alajuela, with the second largest population, former legislative deputy, Joyce Zürcher, was given the chance to govern.

Araya displayed his pleasure for the support he received and said he would start to work immediately in combating some of the problems plaguing the city, especially vandalism and drug addiction.

"I believe the most urgent is the security of the citizens, a problem that can not only be attended to by the Municipality of San José, but with the efforts of the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, the OIJ, Migración and the Policía de Control de Drogas", said Araya.

Araya added that he will push for a reform to the Código Penal (Penal Code) to punish delinquents in San José and that do not go to jail. "It is not possible that we cannot punish harshly delinquents that today enjoy total impunity, a product of a legislation that permits professional delinquents as long as they stay below a certain amount without having their liberty threatened", were the words of Araya.

In Costa Rica, petty criminals are taken into custody and quickly released and in some cases police do not even bother to take them in, releasing them immediately, avoiding the amount of paperwork associated with a crime that will go unpunished.

Araya has been on temporary leave from his mayoral duties during the election, saying that he will be back at his desk this week.

The newly elected municipal leaders will take office on 5 February 2007.