Costa Rica's 2010 Presidential Elections
Anything But Boring
Although Costa Rican elections are generally
dull and boring, this election has been
anything but, as political parties and their
candidates face a show down with a little
over a month to go before voters go to the
polls on February 7th.
The first on the offensive against front
runner Laura Chinchilla of the Partido
Liberación Nacional (PLN) as Otto Guevara of
the Movimiento Libertario (ML) with his commercials depicting people
having to go "chingo" (naked) in the streets
due to the rise in crime and insecurity.
The
Guevara elections machine has also planted
the idea in the minds of voters that
Chinchilla is nothing more than an extension
of Oscar Arias and his "Arismo".
Guevara is behind Chinchilla in the polls
and climbing a few points in the latest
polls and if the trend continues could face
Chinchilla is a run off elections if no one
candidate obtains the required 40% of the
votes on election day.
The Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC) led by
Ottón Solís has been trailing Chinchilla and
Guevara poorly, with only an 8.5% support by
voters in the latest Borge y Asociados poll.
Solís lost the 2006 presidential race to
Oscar Arias by a slight margin.
Solís and the PAC have been very quiet
during this election.
However, on Tuesday, after a two week break in
politicking, as demanded by the elections
tribunal during the Christmas and New Years
holidays, the PAC party began running
an aggressive television commercials
depictingLaura nothing more than a
marionette.
In the commercial doña Laura is asked
questions, where she consults with the
puppet masters for the answers.
Doña Laura came back on Tuesday assuring
that she is "independent" and "no one is
pulling her strings".
Some 2.8 million Costa Ricans will be
eligible to elect their president, two vice
presidents, 57 deputies and 495 members of
municipal councils on February 7th.
Laura Chinchilla depicted as a marionette in the latest television commercial sponsored by the PAC, as the 2010 presidential elections campaigns become aggressive. Scroll down to see the video of the commercial as posted on YouTube
