PLN VOTE 2009
Laura
Chinchilla Chosen As First Woman
Presidential Candidate
Laura Chinchilla Miranda last night was
chosen at the leader of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN)
party and the first woman to lead the party
and first woman presidential candidate in
the history of Costa Rica.
With a margin of more than 11%, Chinchilla
beat out San José mayor, Johnny Araya, in
what has been described as an "intense, but
clean" campaign that was fought right up to
the end. The latest polls had placed
Chinchilla ahead of Araya by 10%.
Fernando Berrocal, former ministro de
Seguridad, was first to accept his defeat,
throwing his support behind the Chinchilla.
Berrocal, who had expected the "silent
majority" to elevate him to leader of the
party got only a 3% support.
The strongest support for Laura came from
Cartago and Limon, where more than 60% of
the voters voted for Chinchilla.
The only province negative for Chinchilla
was Alajuela, where more than 50% of the
vote went to Araya. Araya, however, failed
to win support of "his city" of more than 15
years.
The win now pits Chinchilla against the
Partido Accion Cuidadana (PAC) leader, Otton
Solis, who last weekend got the nod, for the
third time in a row, to run for president in
2010.
More than 400.000 people took part in the
PLN party voting, the largest showing for a
political convention and to what some
supporters are calling, a true political
party for all Costa Ricans.
Fifty year old Laura, born in Desamparados,
south side of San José, was accompanied on
the victory stage by her husband, Jose Maria
Rico, their son and Lauras mother and
father, who was also the Contralor General
de la República (Comptroller General) on two
occasions in 1972 and in 1987.
Laura is also Costa Rican president, Oscar
Arias, pick to follow his presidency in
2010. Arias had been quiet, publicly, of his
support for Laura after been scolded by the
Elections Tribunal that it was unfit for a
sitting president to make comments of
support for a political candidate.
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