SAN JOSE: Costa Ricans voted on Sunday to choose between two scandal-tainted presidential candidates in a country grappling with sky-high poverty and unemployment.
Former president Jose Maria Figueres was once investigated for corruption while ex-finance minister Rodrigo Chaves -- who was slightly ahead in opinion polls -- was previously demoted for sexual harassment.
But with 23 percent of the population living in poverty and unemployment soaring to 14 percent alongside a series of corruption scandals, Costa Ricans seem more focused on the economy as they elect a successor to President Carlos Alvarado.
Polls closed at 6:00 pm (0000 GMT) following a 12-hour election in which 3.5 million of the five million population was eligible to vote.
First results are expected from 8:15 pm (0215).
Voting was carried out “in peace and tranquility,“ said Gustavo Ramon, spokesman for the commission overseeing the elections.
However, one citizen -- aged over 70 -- died after voting in the capital, apparently of a heart attack.
The winner will take over from the unpopular Carlos Alvarado next month and their major challenge will be reigniting an economy in crisis.
Costa Rica has been described as the “happiest” country in Latin America and praised for its political stability, environmental policies and eco-tourism, but the vital tourism industry was hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Alongside Peru, it suffered the largest fall in employment figures in the region between 2019 and 2020.
“Costa Rican society was not poor, they made it poor. Costa Rican society was not unequal, they made it unequal,“ said Chaves, who voted in mid-morning at a city center school in the capital.
“The country has never before been in an emergency like the one we are going through,“ said Figueres, who cast his vote at a school on the outskirts of San Jose.
- ‘We’re very poor’ -
Voters were very clear about what concerned them the most: the economy and employment.
“The next president has to change everything because we’re very poor. There is no work here, there is nothing,“ said Ana Briceno, 64, a travel agent in San Jose.
“In the last years with Carlos Alvarado the situation has been very difficult ... so I think the future president must focus on the economy,“ said Cristina Aguilar, 32.
“The two candidates left are people for whom there is not much confidence. But we have to choose between one of the two and hopefully there will be something good,“ said 58-year-old Angela Marin, first to vote at the Liceo de San Antonio de Coronado.
Chaves, 60, was a surprise qualifier for Sunday’s run-off, having polled fourth ahead of February’s first round.
Representing the newly formed right-wing Social Democratic Progress Party, Chaves led the most recent opinion polls, with more than 41 percent support, compared to 38 percent for Figueres.
“We have spoken about progression and rejecting regression,“ he said in a press conference.
Figueres, 67, was president from 1994 to 1998.
His father Jose abolished the army in 1948 when he was president.
“We have options to generate employment, which is what is most lacking, and to grow the economy,“ he said.
Figueres topped the first round of voting among a crowded field of 25 contenders with 27.3 percent, ahead of Chaves who had 16.8 percent.
But they were a long way from the 40 percent needed to win outright.
- ‘Misinterpreted’ jokes -
Both men have reached this final stage of the election despite the specter of past scandals.
Chaves, who spent six months as finance minister in the outgoing government, was investigated over sexual harassment complaints brought by multiple women while he was a senior official at the World Bank, where he worked for 30 years.
He was demoted, though not fired, and has dismissed his behavior as jokes that were “misinterpreted due to cultural differences.”
Figueres, who represents the centrist National Liberation Party (PLN), was investigated for allegedly taking $900,000 from French engineering firm Alcatel, which has admitted to bribing officials.
The ex-president, who worked abroad at the time as executive director of the World Economic Forum (WEF), refused to give evidence in the case in 2004 and returned to Costa Rica only in 2011 when the investigation expired.
In the unlikely event the election ends in a draw, Costa Rican law says the elder candidate would win, in this case Figueres.
The winner will begin their four-year term on May 8.-AFP