Carlos Alvarado from Costa Rica’s ruling Citizens’ Action party won the presidential run-off election on Easter Sunday. He will be sworn into office on May 8 for a four-year term, joining the small club of national leaders elected before the age of 40.
Carlos Alvarado – a novelist and former minister under the current president Luis Guillermo Solís, who was barred by law from running for a second consecutive term – secured 61 per cent of the vote. This compared with 39 per cent for his rival Fabricio Alvarado, no relation to Carlos, the former television anchor and preacher, who won the first-round in February (the failure of any candidate to garner more than 40 per cent of the vote ensured a runoff between the top two candidates). Turnout was almost 67 per cent.
In the final weeks of campaigning ahead of the first round, Fabricio Alvarado jumped from last place with just 3 per cent of support to a first-round victory as he vehement opposed a call from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for countries in the region to legalise same-sex marriage (the court was established by the Organisation of American States and is based in the Costa Rican capital, San José). While, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina have legalised same-sex marriage, other countries in the region have not.
The international court ruling set off a conservative backlash in the socially conservative country. Fabricio Alvarado seized on the court’s decision, calling it a violation of Costa Rica’s sovereignty and traditional values. He threatened to remove Costa Rica from the court’s authority should he be elected. Carlos Alvarado backed the court ruling.
Carlos Alvarado faces a challenge of tackling the unemployment rate of more than 9 per cent and the highest fiscal deficit on record, at 6.2 per cent of gross domestic product, to prevent a further credit rating downgrade. He has pledged to pass a package of tax and spending measures. He also supports fiscal rules that would restrict the government’s ability to run up debt.
It is forecast that without spending curbs the deficit will reach nearly 8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2019. The Central American country received four credit rating downgrades over the last five years from the main ratings agencies.
Photo: Zhu
