| Costa Rica |
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Costa Rica held parliamentary and presidential elections on February 7, 2010. The ruling party before the election, the center-left National Liberation Party, put forward former Vice-President Laura Chinchilla as its presidential candidate, while the libertarian, Movimiento Libertario nominated former legislator Otto Guevara. Opinion polls before voting started consistently put Chinchilla as the front-runner, a trend confirmed in the election-night count, which showed her garnering 46.76% of the vote.[1]
The election was supervised by observers from several countries, as well as from the Organization of American States.[2] The incumbent President, Óscar Arias, was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term.
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Candidates included:
CID-Gallup 24 January 2010: Chinchilla 43 %; Guevara 30 %; Solís 15 %; Fishman 8 %
Borge & Asociados for Diario Extra opinion poll January 2010: Chinchilla 38.7 %; Guevara 18.3 %; Solís 9.6 %; Fishman 3.7 %
Demoscopía for Al Día January 2010: Chinchilla 45.1 %; Guevara 30.1 %; Solís 9.5 %; Fishman 3.8 %[3]
December 2009: Chinchilla 36.7 %; Guevara 16.2 %; Solís 8.5 %; Fishman 2.2 %
December 2009: Chinchilla 46.6 %; Guevara 19.5 %; Solís 8.3 %; Fishman 4.1 %
October 2009: Chinchilla 53.0 %; Guevara 15.7 %; Solís 12.3 %; Fishman 1.5 %
At 9:08 p.m. local time on election day, February 7, second-placed candidate Otton Solis conceded defeat to Laura Chinchilla, who will become Costa Rica's first female president. With approximately 40% of the vote counted, Chinchilla was consistently surpassing the 40% threshold for victory in the first round, leading Solis by 47% to 24%, with third-placed candidate Otto Guevara trailing at 21.5%[4].
| Candidates – Parties | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Chinchilla – National Liberation Party | 863,803 | 46.78 |
| Ottón Solís – Citizens' Action Party | 464,454 | 25.15 |
| Otto Guevara – Libertarian Movement Party | 384,540 | 20.83 |
| Luis Fishman – Social Christian Unity Party | 71,330 | 3.86 |
| Óscar López – Access without Exclusion | 35,215 | 1.91 |
| Mayra González – Costa Rican Renovation Party | 13,376 | 0.72 |
| Eugenio Trejos – Broad Front | 6,822 | 0.37 |
| Rolando Araya – Patriotic Alliance Party* | 3,795 | 0.21 |
| Walter Muñoz – National Integration Party* | 3,198 | 0.17 |
| Total (turnout 69.14%) | 1,846,533 | 100.00 |
| * Candidacy withdrawn in favour of Ottón Solís on 15 January 2010. Source: TSE |
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| Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Liberation Party (Partido Liberación Nacional) | 646,134 | 37.16 | 23 |
| Citizens' Action Party (Partido Acción Ciudadana) | 307,410 | 17.68 | 11 |
| Libertarian Movement Party (Partido Movimiento Libertario) | 251,657 | 14.48 | 10 |
| Access without Exclusion (Accesibilidad sin Exclusión) | 159,468 | 9.17 | 4 |
| Social Christian Unity Party (Partido de Unidad Socialcristiana) | 140,016 | 8.05 | 6 |
| Costa Rican Renovation Party (Partido Renovación Costariccense) | 65,831 | 3.79 | 1 |
| Broad Front (Frente Amplio) | 63,629 | 3.66 | 1 |
| National Restoration (Restauración Nacional) | 28,229 | 1.62 | — |
| Patriotic Alliance Party (Partido Alianza Patriótica) | 25,981 | 1.49 | — |
| National Integration Party (Partido Integración Nacional) | 14,368 | 0.83 | — |
| Cartaginese Agricultural Union (Unión Agrícola Cartaginés) | 10,145 | 0.58 | — |
| Heredian Restoration (Restauración Herediana) | 7,454 | 0.43 | — |
| Alajuelan Restoration (Restauración Alajuelense) | 6,686 | 0.39 | — |
| Cartaginese Transparency (Transparencia Cartaginés) | 4,021 | 0.23 | — |
| Ecologist Green (Verde Ecologista) | 2,585 | 0.15 | — |
| Elderly Alliance Party (Partido Alianza Mayor) | 2,604 | 0.15 | — |
| Alajuelan Familiar Force (Fuerza Familiar Alajuelense) | 1,389 | 0.08 | — |
| Workers' and Farmers' Movement (Movimiento de Trabajadores y Campesinos) | 1,004 | 0.06 | — |
| Total (turnout 69.08%) | 1,738,611 | 100.00 | 57 |
| Source: TSE | |||
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