Costa Rica awaits results in presidential run-off between outsider, former leader

Costa Ricans on Sunday awaited the results of a presidential run-off election between an anti-establishment outsider and a former leader of the Central American nation, amid widespread voter apathy, social discontent and national debt woes.
The country’s electoral tribunal was expected to release the first results after 8 p.m. local time (0200 GMT on Monday), some two hours after polls closed.
Voting proceeded normally at polling centers, the tribunal’s president said earlier.
Polls showed Rodrigo Chaves, an econom and former World Bank official, as having a slight edge over former President Jose Maria Figueres ahead of the vote.
A poll the University of Costa Rica published on Tuesday showed Chaves with 41% of support versus 38% for Figueres, with many voters undecided.

Chaves, who also briefly served as finance miner for outgoing President Carlos Alvarado, came in second in a first-round vote in February.
Seen as a maverick, Chaves has vowed to shake up the ranks of the political elite, even pledging to use referendums to pass Congress to bring change.
“If the people go out to vote, this is going to be a sweep, a tsunami,” Chaves said after casting his ballot on Sunday.
Figueres, whose father was also president for three separate terms, campaigned on his experience and family political legacy.
He has promised to lift economic growth and boost green industries in the environmentally progressive nation.
“Let’s vote with joy, respecting the preferences of each person, but reinforcing our democratic system,” Figueres, who was president from 1994 to 1998, told reporters after voting.
Going into the election, some voters said they were lukewarm on both candidates, whose political careers have been tainted accusations of wrongdoings.
Chaves faced allegations of sexual harassment during his tenure at the World Bank, which he denied.
Figueres resigned as executive director of the World Economic Forum in 2004 amid accusations he had influenced state contracts with Alcatel, a telecoms company.
That case was never tried in court.
“I came because it is mandatory, but I am a little afraid of what is going to happen to the country,” said Diego Ortiz, 32, a nursing assant who voted in the morning at a polling place in Leon XIII, a poor drict north of San Jose, the capital.
“Neither of them are good candidates for me.”Another voter, David Diaz, 33, said he was not enthused about Chaves or Figueres. He left his home early so he could vote 7 a.m. in the rural town of Tacacori, about 30 km (19 miles) from San Jose.”
I see very little movement, there is a lot of apathy,” said Diaz, a mechanic at a medical device factory.

The undecided
Although voting is technically mandatory, only 60% of eligible voters cast ballots in the first round, the lowest figure in decades.
The margin between Chaves and Figueres, which has increasingly narrowed since the first round, means undecided voters represent a key 18% piece of the electorate.

“Chaves retains an edge due mostly to Figueres’ relatively higher rejection rates and the weight that voters give his corruption allegations relative to Chaves’ sexual harassment-related baggage,” consultancy group Eurasia said in a note.
“But the high level of undecided voters and very fluid voter preferences mean that Figueres could still pull out a win.”
A new president must manage Costa Rica’s economy, which was battered the Covid-19 pandemic before it rebounded.
About 23% of the country’s population of 5.1 million live in poverty.
A growing income disparity makes it one of the most unequal countries in the world and unemployment is running at almost 15%.

Costa Rica agreed last year to $1.78 billion in financial assance from the International Monetary Fund.
In return, the government said it would push through a raft of fiscal changes and austerity measures, but lawmakers have only passed a law to make savings on public-sector workers’ benefits.