The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – In the speeches for the candidacy for President, calling on young voters can be a good move to get lots of votes, because this population represents a large number of the electoral role.
However, they are the hardest to convince, as in recent elections, youth between 18 and 30 represent the largest numbers of abstentees.
According to the analysis of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), men in that age group and in the most rural areas abstain from casting their vote.
In contrast, women are more participatory, and also people between 30 and 65 years.
This analysis does not include the 2014 elections because the data is not yet available. However, it is known that in the provinces of Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limon they only had between 37% and 41% of their population vote.
From the analysis of Hugo Picado, Director of the Institute for Democracy Studies and Training (IFED) of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), said that based on interpretations of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), abstainers are due to an election that is misaligned with parties that no longer identify with political groups.
It explains that young people are disenchanted with the public policies of governments, and therefore, aspects such as high unemployment hits them strongly and discourages their vote.
Since the 1998 election, the level of abstention grew by 10% and has remained so.
“We are entering a new paradigm of electoral behavior, it is unlikely that these trends change in the short term, as is clearly marking since 1998, six processes, is 16 years of the same pattern of behavior,” Picado said.
In his personal opinion, Picado predicted no change for this election, and he was right.
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica