Oscar Arias A Shoe In, Poll Reveals; Next President To Fill the Potholes
For the last two weeks candidates to the February elections had to remain quiet as the Tibunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) prohibits political propaganda during the holiday season. However, and with less that 5 weeks to go, the 2006 election campaigns have resumed.

First off the gate was the Partido Liberación Nacional who say that is the elections were held today, their candidate, former president and Nobel Peace prize winner, Óscar Arias Sánchez, would be elected with 45.8% of the vote. The numbers were compiled by Borge y Asociados and released to the press.

The election is the first Sunday in February (5) and under the election rules, a candidate must obtain at least 40% of the vote, failin which would force a run-off election. The new president takes office on May 1.

According to the Borge y Asociados poll, the closest challenger to Arias is Ottol Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC) at 17.9%, followed by the Movimiento Libertario with 11.5%, UPC with 5.4%, the PUN with 4.1% and the PUSC, led by Ricardo Toledo, who was a minister in the current government, resigning to run for the presidency, with 3.8% of the vote.

According to the experts, there is no doubt that Oscar Arias will be the next president. The political constitution was changed two years ago allowing presidential re-elections, paving the way for Arias and there is little doubt that in the last weeks that situation will change.

The Borge y Asociados poll also reveals that 65.7% of those interviewed have already decided on their vote, while only 34.3% say they may change their opinion by vote day.

The Borge y Asociados poll also reveals that voters want the next president to "fill the potholes". 15.1% of the decided voters say that potholes should be a priority for the next government. Reducing poverty and better security followed the concerns of those polled.

The poll was taken betwen December 10 and 16 of 2005 and has a margin of error of +/-3.2%