BBC News: Costa Rica completes vote recount (still no official winner)

[Up2Late]

(What? Is Diebold counting Cost Rica's vote too? Or is our current "government" just advising them?)

Costa Rica completes vote recount

Costa Rica has completed a manual recount of the votes cast in the election more than two weeks ago - but there is still no official winner.

Thursday, 23 February 2006, 10:55 GMT

The recount was ordered after the first count put Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, less than 0.5% ahead of his left-wing rival, Otton Solis. New results show Mr Arias with a 1.1% lead. But Mr Solis has filed legal challenges which need to be settled.

Electoral officials have said hundreds of complaints are being investigated. It is not clear how long the process will take and when the official winner will be declared.

Hard fought

Meanwhile, former President Arias told a news conference: "I thank the Costa Rican people for their confidence." He added that he would lead the country again, 20 years after his first term as president.

Mr Arias, 65, had enjoyed a big lead over his rival in opinion polls. But far from the easy victory that had been predicted for him, the election on 5 February became Costa Rica's hardest-fought vote in the last four decades, with the two leading candidates virtually neck-and-neck.

{more at link below)

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4742442.stm>

[mom cat]

1. Free trade a key issue:

(also from the article:
Free trade

Mr Solis wants to renegotiate a free trade deal with the US



Mr Arias - (snip) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for spearheading talks that led to the end of civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

He says he wants Costa Rica to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) with the US.

Costa Rica is the only country in the region which has not ratified the deal, which is set to come into effect later this year.

Mr Solis wants some of the deal to be renegotiated, arguing that in its current form it would exacerbate poverty and hurt small-scale farmers.

[Javaman]

2. Sad how our elections mirror a 3rd world countries...n/t

[Ignacio Upton]

3. Costa Rica is hardly a third-world country

Granted it's not a rich country either, but Costa Ricans are much better off than in any other Central American nation, and much better off than many parts of South America (maybe except for Argentina, Brazil, or Chile?)A lot of American retirees are building beachfront houses down there. They've also been a relatively stable democracy since the last time they had a dictator, which was in the 1950's. BTW, they also abolished their army after their return to democracy to prevent another dictator from rising up. I trust the Costa Rican people to work this issue out, unlike our when it put a chimp into the Oval Office.

[Up2Late]

5. Exactly, but I have a question since you seem to know more...

...about Costa Rica than most here, Is Costa Rica becoming a major Tax Haven for Upper class Americans? It does seem like a lot of them are moving there.

And what about Belize? It seems like Belize would be a more natural fit for English speaking Americans?:shrug:

[Ignacio Upton]

6. I don't know anything other than what I told you

nt.

[arcos]

4. I'm sorry, but elections in Costa Rica are much better than in the US...

Sure, there were a few problems this time around, but people are automatically registered to vote here, a non-political electoral court is in charge of elections (unlike Secretaries of State), and voting centers are installed in prisons because voting is a basic human right that cannot be denied to anyone.

I would say it's the other way around... it's sad that this time Costa Rican elections had some similarities to Florida.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Lotta close votes lately.

:eyes: