"Apathy a hurdle at Costa Rica polls" Associated Press April 07, 2014
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Luis Solis’s main challenger in Sunday’s presidential election is voter apathy.
The center-leftist’s only flesh-and-blood rival in the runoff dropped out of the race last month, leaving Solis one remaining challenge: getting enough Costa Ricans to the polls to give him a respectable vote total.
Solis topped the first round of the presidential vote in February with only about 30 percent of the vote and a margin of less than 1 percentage point over Johnny Araya of the governing National Liberation Party. But just over a month later, polls showed Solis had built a lead of 2 or 3 to 1, and Araya stopped campaigning, saying it would be a waste of money.
Solis, who turns 56 this month, would succeed President Laura Chinchilla.
He has vowed a more activist government that focuses on building up small and medium-sized local businesses while strengthening social and environmental programs in a country long considered the most stable in Central America. While his Citizen Action Party opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement, Solis said he would not try to pull out of the deal, but will manage it better.
Solis will have to negotiate to get his policies through Congress. His party holds just 13 of the 57 seats in the National Assembly. And analysts say Sunday’s vote total could affect his influence as well.
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Related: Life of Jose
Also see: El Salvador's Election
ARENA Eliminated in El Salvador
I'm getting out of the electoral arena.
