TCRN Contributor: Jodie Upchurch
The National Liberation Party (PLN) won 58 of 80 votes in the elections yesterday, which represented 72% of the cantons in Costa Rica. This is reflected in data released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) at 10:15 p.m. with 92.1% of polling stations checked (4838 of 5250 enabled for the popular consultation).
The Green-White party maintained virtually the same number of votes as four years ago. At that time, they won 59 of the 81 cantons in the race. Pococí canton in the province of Limón, was the only one with no popular vote. This was postponed to next Sunday because of rain the week before.
The PLN encountered the most obstacles in Guanacaste, where they lost 5 out of the 11 canton votes.
The United Social Christian Party (PUSC) will control 9 mayors (11% of the total number), one less than four years ago.
Six Mayors will be from the Citizen Action Party (PAC), while the Accessibility without Exclusion Party (AWEP) was able to choose two between those from Liberia.
The Libertarian Movement Party had two votes: Valverde Vega (Alajuela) and Nandayure (Guanacaste).
Costa Rican Renovation won one position as Mayor.
Progressive Yunta cantonal parties Curridabat Escazú and XXI Century won their respective demographics.
The results of yesterday’s elections showed that none of the groups listed on the TSE as coalitions won the position of Mayor, although in some cantons there are opposition parties that helped, without registering as an alliance.
In the Central Canton of Cartago, the National Liberation Party was able to meet the challenge posed by the Carthage Kingdom coalition, which won 47.2% of the vote against 52.8% of the Green-White Party.
Highly contested
The election appeared highly contested in some of the cantons. Such is the case with Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste, where Liberation and Accessibility without Exclusion were side by side in reports made by the TSE.
The final score at 10:15 p. m. showed that they triumphed in the canton with 39.8% of the total compared to 34.3% of the green and white flag.
In the Central Region of Limon, the PLN was leading with 28.7% of the vote, but the PUSC was close with 27.1%.
In Puriscal, a province of San José, the struggle for the municipal government clearly opted for the candidate of liberationist, who got 54.6% of the vote against 38.5% of the Social-Christian party.
In the cantons of Vazquez de Coronado and Tibás there were also some disputes in the election of mayors.
In Coronado, the fight was again between PLN and the USPC. The former won with 47.2%, while the USPC won 39.4%.
For its part, the Civic Party, Tibás Fuenteovejuna, had 21.2% of the vote, giving a battle to the officers, but they eventually won after the count last night with 31.3% of the vote.
However, in most places, the National Liberation Party won the majority.
Voter Turnout
The overall voter turn-out this year decreased quite a bit from years past. The percentage of Costa Ricans who stayed far from the polls this year reached a total of 72%.
The first time elections were held, in 2002, the turnout was 22.8%. In 2006, it reached 24.6% and now, 28%, according to data available last night. 92.1% of the polling stations are included in this statistic.