Observing Costa Rica’s 2006 General Election: A Photo Essay

Issues 141 ISSUES OBSERVING COSTA RICA'S 2006 GENERAL ELECTION:A PHOTO ESSAY Bruce M. Wilson, author/photographer University of Central Florida Elections in Costa Rica are widely regarded as among the freest and fairest in the Americas. Election processes, though, are not really tested until an election produces a very close result as happened in the US in 2002, for example. In the 2006 presidential election in Costa Rica, the two leading candidates were separated by less than 8,000votes (less than 1 percent of the total) in the initial count). Unlike the chaos that surrounded the Florida recount, where the state official responsible for certifying the final count also chaired the campaign of one of the two leading candidates, the recount process in Costa Rica was a slow,but calm event with each of the candidates agreeing to abide by the results certified by the election commission. A major difference between the two processes is that elections in Costa Rica are controlled by a nonpartisan Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (Supreme Elections Tribunal, TSE), a quasi-fourth branch of government. This body Results: Presidential and Congressional Elections, by party Electorate: 2.55m; Turnout: 65.2%; Valid Votes: 1.66rn;Source: La Nacio'n 2006; Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, 2006a,2006b, Wilson 2006 142 The Latin Americanist Fall 2006 supervises and controls all aspects related to elections (including registration of births and deaths, voter lists, vote supervision and counting, voter ID cards, etc). The three full members of the TSE are elected by the Supreme Court to eight year terms, which guarantees a high level of political independence from the other branches of government. In the six months before the election and the three months afterwards, the TSE also takes control of the various security forces in the country. On February 5, 2006, elections were held for the office of president, two vice-presidents, all 57 members of the Legislative Assembly, and the members (regidores municipales) of the 81 municipal councils. These elections were the fourteenth consecutive general elections since the conclusion of the short bloody civil war in 1948 and produced one of the closest results since then. Although 14 parties contested the presidential election, the election was a battle between the Partido Liberaci6n Nacional (PLN), a historically center-left party headed by former president Oscar Arias, and a relatively new party, Partido Acci6n Ciudadana (PAC), led by Ott6n Solis, a former senior member of the PLN. Arias, a former president and Nobel prize winner, presented himself as the only person qualified to run the country. Solis attacked the PLN accusing it of having been taken over by neoliberals committed to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA, known as TLC in Central America). This photo essay serves to highlight the importance of the TSE in maintaining high levels of trust in the electoral process during a very close vote count. It also attempts to capture the flavor of the campaign, as well as the political actions and strategies that were missed by many polling companies, but evident on the streets, such as the high level of split-ticket voting. The buildings of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) in San JosC, some of the most impressive governmental buildings in the country, reflect its importance. Issues 143 The TSE uses posters to explain the voting process as well as TV and newspaper advertisements. These posters also appear at all voting stations along side voter lists informing voters where to cast their ballots. Absentee voting is strictly prohibited. 144 The Latin Arnericanist Fall 2006 Each party contesting the election nominates volunteers to be trained and certified by the TSE as election workers. The volunteers keep the electoral process and each other honest, as they represent different political interests. These volunteers represented three different political parties and worked at a voting station in an assisted living facility for old people in the southern zone of San Jost province. Volunteers check each voter’s ID card (ctdula de identidad) by comparing them to the official padmbn electoral (voting list) that is prepared by the TSE. The padrdn contains a facsimile of the voter’s ID card. The volunteers oversee the voting process...