Libertarian Electoral Trend Continues Upward in Costa Rica

Last month I noted that the
Libertarian Party candidate for president, Otto Guevara, was
doing well in the polls in Costa Rica. The
latest polling data from La Nacion finds that the
presidential contest is now essentially a three-way tie. If no
candidate receives 40 percent of the vote on February 2, the
election goes into a second round in April. Guevara could well win
that second round. As the Tico Times*
explains:

The poll ran three scenarios between the top polling candidates
– the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN) nominee Johnny Araya,
the progressive Broad Front Party candidate José María Villalta,
and the Libertarian Movement Party’s Guevara.

Guevara likely would defeat both Villalta and Araya – if Guevara
makes it to the second round – while Araya would lose to Villalta,
La Nación’s poll predicted.

“I am profoundly grateful for this massive and growing support
from Costa Ricans,” Guevara said in a statement. “Our message is
honest and transparent and the people have understood it.”

The National Liberation Party leans left and the
Broad Front is avowedly socialist. In 2010, Guevara received

21 percent of the vote and his party gained 10 of the 57 seats
in the Chamber of Deputies. Here’s hoping that the Ticos make the
right choice.

*I had the pleasure of working as a reporter for the Tico
Times in the 1990s.

H/T to Marc B.