San José, April 6 (Prensa Latina) The meeting between President-elect Rodrigo Chaves and the loser of the election campaign, former President José María Figueres, made it possible to address the main issues that must be promoted today in Costa Rica’s favor.
Job creation, economic reactivation and vulnerable populations were the issues discussed by Chaves and Figueres after a proselytizing campaign fraught with personal attacks, which the President-elect was now urging to put hatred behind and emphasizing the common points of their political parties.
Chaves for the fledgling Democratic Social Progress Party (PPSD, founded in 2018) won this Sunday’s presidential election with 52.84 percent of the valid votes cast, while former President Figueres (1994-1998) of the Liberation Party Nacional received 47.16 percent .
After nearly an hour of dialogue at his home in that capital, Chaves, in statements to the press, pointed out: “Let’s keep hatred, there is no time for vanity. A great majority of people are gathered here today. It is an enormous pride to be a Tico.”
He commented that they discussed the urgent need for economic reactivation, a shared agenda and the forthcoming involvement of groups such as the disabled, indigenous peoples and the elderly.
For his part, Figueres said he requested the meeting with the President-elect and came on behalf of the more than 900,000 Costa Ricans who supported him to congratulate the President-elect and to volunteer for work for Costa Rica.
“Throughout the campaign we have spoken about the importance of looking for convergence points on a common agenda and we want to reassure the President that this is a first sign that this is our will today and always,” he said he stated.
As the PPSD has only 10 of the 57 deputies in the Legislative Assembly, it needs alliances to fulfill its government plan and thus bring it closer to the PLN, which has the largest bank with 19 seats.
And although Chaves used anti-system language in his proselytizing campaign, in his victory speech this Sunday he promised to govern democratically and with respect for the political constitution.
He said there was no room for revenge in this new phase and stressed that he accepted the warning from Costa Ricans who abstained (just over 1.5 million) to participate in this second round, which he described as the largest party in the country.
Now, he stressed, we have to stick to it, and it’s not worth abandoning Costa Rica.
Taken from the Latin Press