former center-left leader Jose Maria Figueres He was leading the vote on Sunday to elect a new president in Costa Rica with 22 percent of the votes counted, while three other candidates are closely vying for second place.
Figueres, from the National Liberation Party (PLN), led the count with 28.78 percent of the votes, according to the results delivered by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
To prevail in the first round it is necessary to obtain more than 40 percentso analysts expect a second round on April 3.
In second place for now is the conservative and evangelical Fabricio Alvarado of the New Republic Party (PNR), with 17.15 percent, followed by the right-wing Rodrigo Chaves of Democratic Social Progress (16.27 percent) and the candidate of the Christian Social Unity Party (PUSC), Lineth Saborío (14.07 percent).
These votes have been characterized by the discouragement of the population in the midst of the economic problems that hit the country and accusations of corruption, which has resulted in an abstention rate of more than 40 percent, considered the highest in the country’s history.
(Also: Costa Rica experienced quiet elections).
Known for being one of the countries with the most stable democracies in Latin America and the first country in Latin America in the 2018-2020 global happiness ranking, Costa Rica’s reputation is overshadowed by a severe financial and social crisis.
The task of confronting it will be in the hands of the next ruler. Unemployment (14.4 percent in 2021), poverty (23 percent in 2021) and an economy with public debt equivalent to 70 percent of GDP set off the alarms of multilateral organizations.
The situation worsened with the covid-19 pandemic, which since the beginning of 2020 hit tourism hard, one of its main engines.
Figueres, at the head of the vote, governed Costa Rica between 1994-1998 and is the son of the emblematic former president José Figueres Ferrer, who abolished the Army in 1948.
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*With information from AFP
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