Costa Rica Politics – Gearing Up for Presidential Elections in 2006

Presidential Elections are scheduled for February 2006 and here are the list of the Presidential Candidates and their political affiliations:

1. PUSC (Unidad Social Cristiana), which is the party currently in office, has nominated Congressman Ricardo Toledo as presidential candidate.
2. PLN (Partido Liberacion Nacional). This traditional mainstream party has resurrected former President and Nobel Peace Prize Oscar Arias as it’s presidential candidate.
3. PAC (Partido Accion Ciudadana). This party was formed by a fraction that left the PLN and was created in 2001 by Otton Solis, its current presidential candidate.
4. ML (Movimiento Libertario). The Libertarian Movement was created in 1997 and ran it’s first election in 1998. The presidential candidate will be its co-founder Otto Guevara.
5. PUN (Partido Union Nacional). The National Union Party is new and is headed by Jose Manuel Echandi.
6. PUPC (Partido Union Para el Cambio). This party is also new for 2006 and called the Unity for Change party and is headed by a former member of the PLN, Antonio Alvarez Desanti.
7. ADN (Alianza Democratica Nacionlista) The Nationalist Democratic Alliance was created by the former Minister of Justice who broke away from the current administration, Jose Miguel Villalobos.
8. FD (Fuerza Democratica). This is the leftist party of Costa Rica and was formed in 1992. It’s presidential candidate is Vladimir de la Cruz.

The largest hurdle for these parties to overcome during this up coming election is the large amount of expected absenteeism after Costa Rica witnessed two former Presidents (Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Rafael Angel Calderon) detained and placed in preventive custody on corruption charges and third ex-president Jose Maria Figueres refusing to return to Costa Rica from Switzerland to appear before congressional hearings on corruption. A local poll sets the absenteeism rate at 30%.

Written by Attorney at Law – Roger A. Petersen. Roger has been an attorney since 1992 and is a member of both the Costa Rican and Florida Bar. He practices law in San José, Costa Rica and is the author of the best-selling book ‘The Legal Guide To Costa Rica.’

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