Voter Turn Out Could
Be As High As 70% in Today's Elections
The president of the Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE), Luis Antonio Sobrado, said
on Saturday that he expects a 70% voter
turnout today, bettering the 65.2% voter
turn out in 2006.
The TSE figures show that 1.975.744 Costa
Ricans will cast their vote today.
Sobrado said that the high level of voting
in 2006 was primarily due to the heated
debate over the TLC - the free trade
agreement with the United States - which
stirred passions and in 2010 the number of
voter participation can only get better.
The TSE head said that the TLC discussion
awakened the passion in young voters,
especially with the referendum vote of
October 2007, who became aware of the
collective problems facing the country.
Today a large percentage of voters are
between the ages of 18 and 34, a group that
is expected to have a high participation in
the voting and could collectively cast the
deciding vote.
In this 2010 presidential election, voters
face the choice of three potential
presidents, Chinchilla (PLN), Guevara (ML)
and Solís (PAC) moving away from the
traditional choice of two.
In the 20006 presidential elections, the
tradition of the PLN and PUSC being the only
parties to offer a viable candidate, the
PAC, the underdog, came close to taking the
election from Oscar Arias.
This year, although the PLN's candidate is
favoured and has been number one in the
polls from the beginning of the elections
campaign, the ML has gained a lot of support
and the PAC in third place could end up with
a strong show, maybe even upsetting the
balance.
In 2010 the PUSC is a lame duck party. It
offered a last minute candidate to replace
the "chosen" candidate, while almost not
offering a candidate at all.
What experts see today is a Costa Rica
filled with more passion and ferver that in
the past in making a choice for a new
leader.
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