Arias Holds Commanding Lead in Costa Rica

[arcos]

Arias Holds Commanding Lead in Costa Rica

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Former head of state Óscar Arias Sánchez remains the candidate to beat in Costa Rica’s presidential ballot, according to a poll by Borge y Asociados published in Extra. 41.3 per cent of respondents would vote for Arias in next year’s election.

In March 2004, Arias officially announced his intention to run for president again as the candidate for the National Liberation Party (PLN). The Costa Rican Legislative Assembly opted to bring back presidential re-election in 2003. Arias headed the government from 1986 to 1990.

Ottón Solís of the Citizens Action Party (PAC) is second with 12.7 per cent, followed by Antonio Álvarez Desanti of the Union for Change (UPC) with 7.3 per cent.

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On Sept. 16, Arias, Solís, Álvarez Desanti, Toledo and Guevara participated in a radio debate. The PAC nominee was the only candidate to come out against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), calling the proposed deal "a menace" to the country.

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http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/9052

[bluestateguy]

1. Is he a lefty or a righty?

I don't know.

[arcos]

2. He used to be considered lefty, now he's a major right winger...

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 because of his efforts to bring peace to Central America, and his government was mostly centrist... however, he is now one of the major backers of CAFTA, privatizations and free market policies in general.

[MercutioATC]

3. Yes, but Costa Rica, as a country, is pretty damn liberal.

Their only real issue is that they're bleeding red ink to keep all of the programs running. I don't think he'd even try to cut any social programs, but if he found other ways of helping to balance their budget, that'd be great.

[arcos]

4. No he wouldn't...

Actually he is proposing to increase funding for education, but he currently wants to balance the budget with tax increases... regressive taxes like sales tax, while giving tax breaks to corporations. The bill is currently under discussion and he and current President Pacheco are the biggest supporters.

And as I said, he wants to privatize state owned companies, something that the people have rejected several times in the past.

[MercutioATC]

5. As a future Costa Rica resident, I hope he's unsuccessful.

I might be wrong, but the balanced budget issue seems to be getting some media hype down there but I don't get a sense that it's a priority of the populace in general.

[arcos]

6. Sort of...

Most people realize something must be done to increase tax revenue and heal public finances, but most people believe (and numbers agree on this) that taxes are not properly collected and that there is a huge underground economy. So, a lot of people believe more work should be done on enforcing current tax laws instead instead of making up new ones who would probably only worsen the tax evasion problem.

CAFTA is right now the biggest issue among the population, and it is certainly the most important campaign topic too.

[MercutioATC]

7. What's the general feeling on CAFTA?

I'd think it would be negative (it doesn't seem that Costa Rica has that much to gain).

[arcos]

8. Public opinion has slowly moved in favor of it...

It started out with slightly more people opposing it, but after months of daily ads by pro-CAFTA interests, now most people support it. Nearly half of them would like to see CAFTA renegotiated, but since there's not a big chance of that, most people would support it as it is now.

[MercutioATC]

9. Sort of like here, I guess. Nothing, really, for us to gain either.

For some reason, people still support it.

[arcos]

10. We do have things to gain, but we have lots to lose too...

Yes, CAFTA will bring good paying jobs (by Costa Rican standards) thanks to outsourcing by foreign companies... but it will benefit mostly people who are not doing too bad right now, middle, upper middle and high classes. Poor people who depend mostly on agriculture are going to be harmed though.

So it will certainly widen the gap between rich people and poor people, urban areas and rural areas... and that certainly doesn't help the country as a whole.