Costa Rica polls open with centre-right populists seeking re-election

Costa Rica’s General Election Polls Open

Polling stations have opened in Costa Rica for the country’s general election, which will determine control of the Legislative Assembly. The election is taking place at a time when drug-fuelled violence has affected the country.

Laura Fernandez, President Rodrigo Chaves’s former chief of staff and current frontrunner, is leading in the polls with over 40 percent support. This would be enough to win outright and avoid an April 5 run-off. Fernandez has pledged to continue Chaves’s security policies and anti-establishment message.

Other candidates in the election include Alvaro Ramos, a centrist economist representing Costa Rica’s oldest political party, and Claudia Dobles, an architect representing a progressive coalition. They are polling in single digits but may compete in a possible run-off if Fernandez falls short of 40 percent.

Fernandez has also urged voters to support her for 40 seats in the Legislative Assembly, which would give her a supermajority. The current government holds just eight seats and has blamed congressional gridlock for blocking its agenda.

According to polls, about a quarter of the 3.7 million eligible voters remain undecided. The largest group of undecided voters are between the ages of 18 and 34 and from the coastal provinces of Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limon.

President Chaves remains popular, with a 58 percent approval rating according to the University of Costa Rica’s CIEP polling. Fernandez has pledged to include Chaves in her government and position herself as the continuity of his mandate.

Source: Al Jazeera