Polls Differ on TLC Vote,
Which To Believe
A poll by Unimer
published in La Nación
says that 51.5 per cent
of respondents would
ratify the Tratado de
Libre Comercio (TLC),
while a poll by the
Universidad de Costa
Rica says that 56.7 per
cent of respondents
would vote "No" in the
October 7 referendum on
the trade deal known
locally as the Tratado
de Libre Comercio (TLC).
In May 2004, Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua
agreed to the Central
America Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA) with
the United States. The
Dominican Republic
followed suit in August.
The agreement - which
would reduce or
eliminate taxes and
tariffs on imports -
must be approved by each
country’s legislative
branch. To date, Costa
Rica remains the only
country that has not
ratified the trade deal.
Costa Rican president,
Óscar Arias - a member
of the National
Liberation Party (PLN) -
won the February 2006
presidential election
with 40.92 per cent of
all cast ballots. He was
sworn in for the second
time in May 2006. Arias
supports the TLC and
expects to have it
ratified by the end of
this year.
On Apr. 13, Arias
announced that Costa
Ricans would be asked in
a referendum whether
they want the country to
ratify theTLCor not. The
referendum can only be
binding if at least 40
per cent of all
registered voters take
part.
On Aug. 3, Costa Rican
bishop Ángel Sancasimiro
called on the public not
to be divided by the
referendum, declaring,
"At this moment, the
polarization is evident.
Let’s be careful; Costa
Rica will not have a
future if we are led to
believe that those who
think differently from
ourselves are our
enemies."
Polling Data
How would you vote on
the referendum to ratify
the Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC)?
|
Unimer Poll (1): |
|
UCR Poll (2): |
|
|
Yes |
51.5% |
Yes |
43.3% |
|
No |
42.1% |
No |
56.7% |
|
No Reply |
6.4% |
|
|
(1) Source: Unimer / La
Nación
Methodology: Interviews
with 1,300 Costa Rican
adults, conducted from
Jul. 28 to Jul. 26,
2007. Margin of error is
2.7 per cent.
(2)
Source: Universidad de
Costa Rica
Methodology: Interviews
with 1,000 Costa Rican
adults, conducted from
Jun. 2 to Jun. 10, 2007.
Margin of error is 3 per
cent. |
