A car with a flag of the Christian Social Unity Party passes by supporters of presidential candidate Jose Maria Figueres of the National Liberation Party (PLN) in San Jose, Costa Rica, Feb 5, 2022. (EZEQUIEL BECERRA / AFP)
SAN JOSE – A record 25 candidates are on Costa Rica's presidential ballot in Sunday's elections, which will choose both the president and the legislators that will lead the country in 2022-2026, and no one has yet to take the commanding lead.
Among the presidential candidates, the country's former president and candidate of the National Liberation Party, Jose Maria Figueres, came first with only 17 percent of the vote, according to the latest survey by the Research Center in Political Studies of the University of Costa Rica.
Among the presidential candidates, the country's former president and candidate of the National Liberation Party, Jose Maria Figueres, came first with only 17 percent of the vote, according to the latest survey by the Research Center in Political Studies of the University of Costa Rica
After Figueres were Social Christian Unity Party candidate Lineth Saborio with 12.86 percent, and conservative Fabricio Alvarado of the New Republic Party, with 10.27 percent.
Welmer Ramos, the candidate of the ruling Citizens' Action Party, barely garnered 1 percent of the vote, despite the party having governed for two consecutive terms.
"I cannot make any predictions. Anything is possible," said political scientist and analyst Francisco Barahona.
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For Barahona, the election has a high degree of uncertainty, a situation that he hopes will be reversed in the almost inevitable second round of elections that will be held on April 3 between the two front-runners in the first round if no candidate secures 40 percent of the vote on Sunday.
Barahona said the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic will also have an effect. Last month, Costa Rica recorded another 122,317 cases, a record monthly count of infections.
Given all these elements, the country will experience an election day full of anxiety as Costa Ricans wait to find out if any of the candidates will win the necessary 40 percent in the first round to succeed President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, who will leave office on May 8.
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