Laura Expected To Say
Goodbye To The
Vice-Presidency Today
Laura Chinchilla is
expected to resign her
post as the country's
vice president and
ministra de Justicia y
Gracia to run for
Partido Liberación
Nacional (PLN)
nomination for the 2010
presidential elections.
Laura's departure was
confirmed yesterday by
president, Oscar Arias,
who told the press "I am
left without
vice-presidents".
The announcement is to
be made official at
today's cabinet meeting
at Casa Presidencial.
Once she officially
tenders her resignation
and confirmed by the
Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE), doña
Laura can then place her
name in the political
arena and run against
confirmed contenders,
San José mayor, Johnny
Araya, and former
ministro de Seguridad,
Fernando Berrocal.
Several others,
including current
ministro de Hacienda,
Guillermo Zuñiga, are
expected to bid for the
party nomination,
however, none have
officially filed their
intentions.
The president of the
TSE, Luis Antonio
Sobrado, said that the
process of separating
Laura from her
vice-presidential duties
will take about two
days. "I cannot predict
when Laura's resignation
will be effective, that
will be determined after
she officially resigns
her vice-presidency",
said Sobrado.
In the recent polls,
Laura is the front
runner to take the party
nomination, with a 32%
of the decided PLN party
members supporting her
nomination, while Araya
is close behind at 29%
of the support and
Berrocal trailing with a
mere 3% of the decided
support.
Once Laura's resignation
is in effect, the
country will be without
either of the two
appointed
vice-presidents. Kevin
Casas was forced to
resign early in the
Arias administration
over a leaked internal
memo regarding a party
tactic to discredit the
competition.
Vice-presidential
duties, according to the
Constitución Política
(Political
Constitution), fall on
the president of the
Legislative Assembly,
Francisco Antonio
Pacheco, who has
formally asked the TSE
if he required to resign
as president of the
Partido Liberación
Nacional (PLN) in the
event he is to
temporarily act as
president while
president Arias is out
of the country or
incapacitated.
Pacheco said he made the
request for
clarification as he has
doubts on the process
and wants to be clear on
his role in the event he
is called to acting
president.
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