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Solís Seeks 1 Million Votes in Runoff Election to Strengthen his Mandate

By Zach Dyer

The lack of a challenger could allow presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solís to focus on building broader support and consensus in Costa Rica, notes COA’s Eric Farnsworth.

 

Citizen Action Party (PAC) presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solís announced an ambitious goal to capture 1 million votes in Costa Rica’s April 6 runoff election. Solís seeks a popular mandate to govern Costa Rica after National Liberation Party (PLN) candidate Johnny Araya announced his exit from the race this week.

Solís said his campaign is active despite Araya’s stepping down, and that he is still focused on winning over voters.

“I want to think, instead of saying a percentage, that we can mobilize a million votes,” Solís said, according to the daily La Nación.

Solís expressed concern Wednesday night that the apparently empty field would discourage voters from coming out to the polls. The former diplomat worried that low turnout could weaken his mandate and give his presidency a shaky start.

Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, said that the lack of a challenger could give Solís the chance to focus on building broader support and consensus.

“If Solís wins this would allow him to have a healing message and in some ways a more traditional Costa Rican message of unity and strength of institutions,” the think-tank expert told The Tico Times....

Read the full article here.

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