Solís Leads In 80.56% of Votes Counted
It is two weeks today that the presidential elections took place and the Tribunales Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) is almost done with the manual counting of the votes. As of yesterday, 80.56% of the votes have been counted, closing the day with the province of Heredia.

According to Oscar Fonseca, president of the TSE, his staff at the same yesterday began the manual count of the Guanacaste province votes. Once that count is finished, the vote count for provinces of Limón and Puntarenas.

Fonseca would not specify a date, but it is expected to be before the end of the month, if the staff keeps the pace of 400 voting stations per day.

"It appears that the manual count has taken on its own natural rythm. However, I won't date to speculate on a finish date, as the road ahead could be filled wit inconsistencies that will slow things down", said Fonseca.

The accumulated total of all the votes counted to date see Ottón Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC) leading Oscal Arias of the Partido Liberacíion Nacional (PLN) by 17.855 votes.

In the electronic count suspended on February 6, the day after the election, the provinces of Guanacaste and Puntarenas were strong for Arias, which could see the Solís lead reduced or eliminated.

Both Arias and Solís have been calm during this period, urging Costa Ricans to be patient and have faith in the TSE, though the PAC is complaining about the quality of the scrutiny of each vote.