The Politics of Change
In a surprising and highly disputed result, Dr. Oscar Arias of the Partido de Liberación Nacional (PLN) – former President from 1986-1990 and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his part negotiating peace agreements throughout Central America – was elected President with a margin of only 18,000 votes or 1.12% over his opponent Ottón Solís of the Partido de Acción Ciudadana (PAC).
For more than fifty years Costa Rica has effectively existed under a two-party political system with administrations alternating between the traditionally Social Democratic PLN, famously responsible for the abolition of the army and establishment of the welfare state, and the more center-right Partido de Unión Social Cristiana (PUSC).
However, under the recent reforms these two parties had begun to move together into a moderate neo-liberal agenda, and in the 2002 elections, a new left-leaning reformist party, the PAC - founded by former PLN Minister for Planning, Otton Solis - emerged on to the scene with the aim of challenging the ‘ideological centrism’ of the main parties with a ‘third voice’. 17
Although the new party was soundly defeated on this occasion they did win 14 seats on the Assembly undermining then PUSC President, Abel Pacheco’s legislative capabilities. The surprising success of the PAC in 2006 signifies a shift left in Costa Rican politics, pushing out the presence of the right altogether, while a record high rate of abstentions and null ballots reflects massive civic disenchantment and discontent.
The leading electoral issue appears to have been Costa Rica’s accession to the US-backed DR-CAFTA, Dominican Republic and Central American Free Trade Agreement, with Arias and the PLN backing ratification and seen to represent the interests of big business and global export, in contrast to Solís and the PAC who took a populist stance, promising to ‘put people before corporations’ and referring to the agreement as a ‘factory of poverty’. 18
Arias’s support came from the powerful political and business elite, while support for Solís was drawn mainly from the public sector labor unions, the educated, urban middle classes and much of academia, diverse social and environmental groups, and perhaps surprisingly, the Catholic Church.
In short, these unexpected results reflect the aforementioned ‘struggle in progress’, with DR-CAFTA serving as a stark symbol of a divided nation and the PAC as an embodiment of the backlash to the failures of economic reform, drawing together diverse interests in opposition to the free trade agreement.
However, under the recent reforms these two parties had begun to move together into a moderate neo-liberal agenda, and in the 2002 elections, a new left-leaning reformist party, the PAC - founded by former PLN Minister for Planning, Otton Solis - emerged on to the scene with the aim of challenging the ‘ideological centrism’ of the main parties with a ‘third voice’. 17
Although the new party was soundly defeated on this occasion they did win 14 seats on the Assembly undermining then PUSC President, Abel Pacheco’s legislative capabilities. The surprising success of the PAC in 2006 signifies a shift left in Costa Rican politics, pushing out the presence of the right altogether, while a record high rate of abstentions and null ballots reflects massive civic disenchantment and discontent.
The leading electoral issue appears to have been Costa Rica’s accession to the US-backed DR-CAFTA, Dominican Republic and Central American Free Trade Agreement, with Arias and the PLN backing ratification and seen to represent the interests of big business and global export, in contrast to Solís and the PAC who took a populist stance, promising to ‘put people before corporations’ and referring to the agreement as a ‘factory of poverty’. 18
Arias’s support came from the powerful political and business elite, while support for Solís was drawn mainly from the public sector labor unions, the educated, urban middle classes and much of academia, diverse social and environmental groups, and perhaps surprisingly, the Catholic Church.
In short, these unexpected results reflect the aforementioned ‘struggle in progress’, with DR-CAFTA serving as a stark symbol of a divided nation and the PAC as an embodiment of the backlash to the failures of economic reform, drawing together diverse interests in opposition to the free trade agreement.
