40% Of Costa Ricans
Voting Required To
Approve TLC
The Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE) ruled
on Thursday that the
results of the vote of
the referendum on the
Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) on
October 7th, will be
binding only if 40% of
the electors vote.
Alejandro Bermudez
announced the TSE
decision yesterday with
respect to the public
vote on the free trade
deal with the United
States, when 2.653.000
Costa Ricans will take
to the polls to decide
the future of the deal.
When the referendum was
announced, the TSE had
maintained that between
30% and 40% of all votes
where required, leaving
the final decision when
the Referendum was
officially called.
What the 40% means is
that a total of
1.061.200 Costa Ricans
will have to come out
and vote in favour,
against or void their
ballot, for the results
to be valid.
A voter short of the 40%
and the referendum
results are scrapped and
the trade deal goes back
to the Legislature.
The TSE says that once
the 40% requirement is
met, if the majority
vote "yes", the TLC will
be in force immediately.
To the contrary, if the
majority vote "no", the
TLC is shelved.
Luis Antonio Sobrado,
president of the TSE,
said that to define the
40% mark the TSE based
its decision on the
fundamentals of the
Departamento de
Servicios Técnicos de la
Asamblea Legislativa
when it was decided that
only 38 legislators
voting yes was required
for the trade deal to be
ratified.
Sobrado added that the
40% will be a challenge
for organizers of both
the "yes" and "no"
campaigns, who will be
obligated to convince a
greater number of Costa
Ricans to get out and
vote.
The October 7 referendum
is the first in Costa
Rican history. Sobrado
added that the
referendum should only
be used in "grandes
occasiones" (big
occasions).
The TSE president said
that he hopes that the
political rhetoric does
not become a source of
misinformation for the
public. Sobrado added
that the TSE has
contracted a company to
monitor the media and
the news to determine if
the information offered
to the electors is
balanced.
With the TSE
announcement this week,
the voting process has
begun. The Fuerza
Pública (police) have
been called in to
safeguard the documents
used in the process, the
printing and
distribution of the
voting ballots, among
other duties of securing
a fair election.
Costa Rica is the only
signatory country in the
CAFTA-DR agreement that
has yet to ratify and
put treaty in place.
While the issue has the
country divided,
proponents of the trade
deal are spending
heavily on a media
campaign to convince the
public the benefits and
need for the trade deal.
Meanwhile, opponents,
headed by the Partido
Acción Cuidadana (PAC)
are heading the "no"
vote and are taking to
the streets, visiting
homes to tell people of
the negative aspects of
the deal. |
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