The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – The Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica (TSE) convened yesterday officially to announce the results for presidential candidates Luis Guillermo Solis and Johnny Araya, who will go for a second round of voting on April 6, something that had only happened one other time in 2002.
“Based on provisions of constitutional and legal order, holding a second vote is ordered to elect the president and vice presidents for Sunday, April 6,” said TSE President, Luis Antonio Sobrado, in a press conference.
This is only the second time in history Costa Rica has had this happen. The first occurred in 2002 when Abel Pacheco of the Social Christian Unity Party, won against Rolando Araya of the National Liberation Party (PLN), who is the brother of the current candidate of PLN, Johnny Araya.
The final results of the elections on February 2 were confirmed by the TSE, who stated that none of the 13 candidates who participated in the presidential election reached 40% of the votes, the minimum needed for a first-round victory.
The candidate of the center-left Citizen Action Party (PAC), Luis Guillermo Solís, won the first round with 30.64% of the vote, while the ruling party candidate Araya totalled 29.71%, according to final data by the TSE.
TSE data indicates that Solis scored a total of 629,856 votes, while Araya had 610,634. These figures are not much different than the preliminary results announced by the TSE on February 2.
In recent weeks, both presidential candidates have continued their campaign with visits to communities and meetings with various social, religious and productive sectors to share their proposals for the new government. (ACAN-EFE)
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose, Costa Rica
