This Sunday, April 3, the second presidential round will take place in Costa Rica. In those elections Rodrigo Chaves and José María Figues will face each other.
Below, we present the profiles of each of the candidates.
(In context: Costa Rica goes to the polls this Sunday to elect a president)
Rodrigo Chaves, the controversial economist who offers a change
Economist and former World Bank official Rodrigo Chaves aspires to become president of Costa Rica in next Sunday’s ballot with a proposal that offers a change in the way of governing and with attacks on the parties that have been in power for the last decades.
The candidate of the practically unknown Social Democratic Progress Party, gave the surprise on February 6 in the first round by finishing in second place to get into the second round against former president José María Figueres, a candidate for the traditional National Liberation Party.
Chaves, 60 years old, has proposed attacking the corruption for which he blames previous governmentsincluding those of the rival party, and apply profound State reforms by means of a referendum, something that has been branded by his opponents as populism.
Among the candidate’s promises are the reduction of procedures for entrepreneurs and social charges, modifications to the country’s educational plans, the reduction in the size of the State and support for the coastal sectors, which are the poorest in the country.
The Chaves government plan is committed to actions in economic matters to reduce procedures and facilitate business action, reduce social charges, demand results from public institutions, generate jobs and attract more investment, and lower the cost of the basic food basket through decrees.
Chaves has also promised to promote a single pension system, apply the tax reform approved during the current government, stronger sanctions against corruption and making social spending more efficient.
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“Don’t hand over the keys to the same old people” has been one of the phrases most used by Chaves during the campaign, with which he has asked the population for a vote and which has served to criticize the parties with the most experience in the country.
This candidate has also been characterized by his constant confrontation with the press, which he has pointed out as biased.
Although he has presented himself as “a staunch defender of press freedom” and has the well-known retired journalist Pilar Cisneros as spokesperson and deputy-elect, Chaves has launched epithets against the media such as “scoundrels”, “liars” and “laughing stock”. “.
Chaves’s annoyance focuses on media reports about a private trust that would have financed his campaign expenses, which would be illegal. The financing of the candidate has been in the eye of the hurricane and a bank account of a former assistant of his has been added to the trust, through which 195,000 dollars were moved for the campaign, according to a report by the newspaper La Nación.
The legislation requires that campaign money be mobilized through the bank accounts of political parties.
The local press and also the United States media have reported on the complaints of sexual harassment that were filed against Chaves by World Bank officials.l when he worked as an economist for that entity and for which internal sanctions were applied.
(Read here: Elections in Costa Rica: the country is at stake to maintain its social stability)
The candidate has insisted that the reported events never occurred and that it was all a “misunderstanding” on the part of his colleagues. After his time at the World Bank, Chaves was Minister of Finance of Costa Rica between December 2019 and May 2020 in the current Government of President Carlos Alvarado.
Chaves worked for more than 20 years in various positions at the World Bank as sector director for poverty reduction, public sector reform and economic management for Latin America and the Caribbean; as well as country director for Indonesia.
Figueres, the former president who offers experience and faces unpopularity
Former President José María Figueres Olsen, candidate of the traditional National Liberation Party (PLN), will seek with his “experience” the support of Costa Ricans in the second round of elections, but faces unpopularity due to the past that drags on suspicions of corruption that have never been proven.
The candidate won the first round with 27.4% of the vote, far from the 40% needed to avoid the second round on April 3, in which he will face economist Rodrigo Chaves, from the Social Democratic Progress Party.
The latest survey by the Center for Research and Political Studies (CIEP) of the University of Costa Rica revealed that for the second contest Figueres is 3 points below Chaves, which translates into a technical tie.
Figueres, who was president between 1994 and 1998is a graduate in industrial engineering from the West Point Military Academy in the United States and jumped into politics in 1988.
His father and social democratic caudillo José Figueres Ferrer was president three times (1948-1949, 1953-1958 and 1970-1974) and became the most prominent political figure in recent Costa Rican history by abolishing the army in 1948 after winning the country’s last civil war.
During his tenure between 1994 and 1998, Figueres Olsen created a payment system for environmental services, promoted ecotourism and is credited with bringing Intel to
Costa Rica in 1996, but his management was also surrounded by controversy due to the closure of Banco Anglo and the railway.
Figueres has appealed to his experience and although he has said that he is going to fight corruption, he is weighed down by the shadow of a scandal over advice he provided to the telecommunications company Alcatel to access a public tender.
For this advice, the politician received a payment of 900,000 dollars between 2000 and 2003.
Figueres, who defended that the payment was lawful, lived in Switzerland for almost eight years and returned to Costa Rica in December 2011, after the Prosecutor’s Office determined in 2007 that he had not committed any crime with the provision of his consultancy and filed the case. .
However, the controversy continues to haunt him and in recent weeks he has been questioned about a surprise trip to the Dominican Republic paid for by a businessman and which was not announced or reported.
(In other news: Republic of Costa Rica won Prince William’s environmental award)
The Costa Rican Supreme Electoral Tribunal requested the receipts, vouchers and any other documentation to have the respective information.
Subsequently, Figueres gave a press conference in which he explained that during his trip he met with the president of that country, Luis Abinader, in order to discuss issues such as the war in Ukraine, the price of oil and wheat, and the current situation of the Central American Integration System.
The CIEP survey indicates that people recognize positive aspects in Figueres such as his experience, his knowledge and the proposals he has as a candidate.
On the other hand, corruption, pointing him out for theft and that he fled, are the aspects that those consulted mostly remember as negative.
As part of the proposals in his Government Plan, the presidential candidate has committed to making Costa Rica the world leader in the energy transition, promoting a growing and green economy, as well as a friendly national production.
Its program includes a “911 plan” to promote economic reactivation, with the creation of 200,000 direct and 40,000 indirect job opportunities during the first two years.
For the candidate, the goals must be ambitious, such as lowering unemployment to less than 7% and achieving sustained economic growth of more than 5%, with the aim of creating employment, productive chains, opportunities for entrepreneurship and the possibility of investment with new business models.
Regarding his rival, Figueres has criticized that he has not publicly presented an economic team and has stated that a Chaves government would be a “leap into the void”. Next Sunday 3.5 million Costa Ricans will be called to the polls to elect the president who will govern between 2022 and 2026.
EFE
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