Costa Rica gears up for 2010 elections

[arcos]

In a crucial precursor to the 2010 national elections, the two biggest political parties elected local leaders this weekend.

The Citizen Action Party (PAC) elected representatives to the party's National Assembly, which ratifies all major party decisions and chooses candidates for the Legislative Assembly. The assembly will first meet Feb. 7 to choose new party leaders and revise rules.

The National Liberation Party (PLN), less far along in a process that is similar for all parties, elected leaders on a district level. Those leaders will then choose leaders for each canton, who will choose provincial leaders, who will choose representatives to the party's National Assembly.

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Araya faces a tight race against former Vice President Laura Chinchilla, according to recent polls, while the dark horses include former Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal and former Culture Minister Carlos Francisco Echeverria. PLN's candidate will be elected in an open primary in early June.

PAC's likely presidential candidates, Epsy Cambell and Ottón Solís, also traveled the country this weekend to meet provincial leaders who were choosing representatives to the National Assembly. Campbell, now the president of PAC, would be Costa Rica's first black president, as well as its first female president.

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http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2009_01/0119093.htm