Epsy Wants Open Convention
To Choose PAC Party Leadership
Former legislator and former president of the Partido Acción
Ciudadana (PAC), Epsy Campbell, wants to be president of Costa Rica
as a candidate of the "rojiamarillo" and is calling on the party to
open the political process so that anyone voter over the age of 18
can make a choice of the party leadership.
Campbell says she is not in agreement with the PAC party system
where only 80 party delegates have the vote on choosing a candidate
for the presidential elections.
For his part, Ottón Solís, the party's candidate in the 2006
elections, has declared his intention to run for the party
leadership for the 2010 presidential elections and supports the
Campbell proposal to open the convention to all.
"Fortunately Ottón are on the same page that party must grow and
conventions will help", said Campbell.
The 45 year old economist assures that by the end of this week,
possibly today, she will announce her decision to seek the party
nomination and square off with Solís who led the part since its
creation eight years ago.
Campbell denied pressure put on her by the Solís decision and
assures that it does not affect her decision in any way.
The PAC and the Movimiento Libertatio (ML) are the only major
political party that does not subscribe to a open convention to
choose its leader.
Both the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) and the Partido Unidad
Social Cristiana (PUSC) hold open conventions where everyone is
invited to cast their vote for their candidate.
The PUSC delegates chose Abel Pacheco as their candidate who won the
2002 presidential elections, followed by Ricardo Toledo's failed bid
in 2006. For 2010, the party has yet to announce a convention and no
delegate has yet confirmed his or her intentions.
Over at the PLN, the nomination convention is scheduled for June 7,
where Laura Chinchilla, Johnny Araya, Fernando Berrocal and Carlos
F. Echeverría will square off in the vote. In 2002 Rolando Araya
(Johnny's brother) got the party nod, beating out Antonio Alvarez
Desanti and José Miguel Corrales, then losing to Pacheco. In 2006,
Oscar Arias, took the party back to Casa Presidencial.
For the Movimiento Liberatio party, nothing is expected to change
for the 2010 elections, as the delegates of the party's national
assembly are expected to once again nominate Otto Guevara.
Scientists from Oregon State University have glued tiny transmitters
to hummingbirds in Costa Rica to figure out why plant pollination by
birds and insects is crashing around the world.
They found that even when it meant a much longer trip, the hermit
hummingbirds kept to the forest, rather than cross land cleared for
farms.
The findings are published in the journal Biology Letters and shed
light on a long-standing issue in ecology: the fragmentation of
ecosystems by roads and development.
The scientists say the findings suggest that isolated patches of
forest may ultimately result in species decline, because birds that
normally spread pollen won't cross developed land to visit them. |
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