Audited by 98.15 percent of the 6,847 Vote Receiving Boards (JRV), Chaves, a 60-year-old economist, won the first magistrate this Sunday, receiving 52.85 percent of the valid votes cast.
His opponent, former President José María Figueres of the National Liberation Party (PLN), gets 47.15 percent and abstention 43.23 percent, more than in the first round on February 6, when 40.29 percent was achieved while zero – and blank votes were achieved a total of 50,860.
With that result, Costa Rican voters not only gave victory to the candidate who based his proselytizing campaign on being anti-system and guaranteeing that none of the national politicians he feels are responsible for Costa Rica’s serious economy and society since almost 40 years.
In addition, voters ignored allegations against him because Chaves ended his nearly 30-year stint at the World Bank, which was marred by complaints from two workers alleging “sexual innuendos” and a “pattern of unwanted inappropriate behavior” between 2008 and 2013. would have attributed bodies themselves.
Since the first round of general elections, he has insisted on calling these allegations gossip and lies, and all the indications are that Costa Ricans weigh more heavily on his promises of honest government and that he will seek to end the privileges that Costa Rica make up one of the 10 most unequal countries in the world.
In another quick conclusion to the election result, Costa Ricans dealt a serious blow to the PLN, for despite winning the general election by a wide margin, it will become the largest bank with 19 seats in the next legislature on May 1, inflicting its third defeat in as many second rounds to.
Another curious fact is that in the last of three consecutive ballots, the candidate who finished second in the first round of general elections won the country’s presidency in the second, as happened now with Chaves and in 2018 with Carlos Alvarado von the Citizen Action Party (PAC).
Also that for the third time the presidency of Costa Rica will be taken by a representative of a party that does not belong to the traditional ones, such as the PLN and the Christian Social Unity Party or other forces of Calderonism (Rafael Calderón Guardia) That is, they changed the first magistracy until 2014 when Luis Guillermo Solís of the PAC won.
In his victory speech at the Radisson Hotel in the capital, Chaves reiterated: “It is with the deepest humility that I accept this sacred decision of the Costa Rican people, for me it is not a moment of celebration, this result is not a medal or a trophy, but an enormous responsibility. ” with many difficulties that we will all solve ».
Costa Rica voted and the people spoke, hailing former President Figueres and everyone who voted for him and sending him a tribute. “I congratulate him and ask him to work together to make possible what he himself called the miracle of Costa Rica,” he said.
Chaves vowed to do his best and asked to keep the party flags and unite in one, that of Costa Rica, to move forward while accepting the warning from Costa Ricans abstaining from participating in this second round, the 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.”
jf/ale