Why Costa Rica's Unopposed Presidential Candidate isn't Taking it Easy

After ruling party candidate Johnny Araya shocked Costa Rica by dropping out of the country’s second-ever presidential runoff this week, his opponent and relative newcomer Luis Guillermo Solís is rallying to win enough votes to prove he has the mandate to lead this Central American nation.

Mr. Araya’s surprise announcement Wednesday, when he said he would bow out of the runoff due to a lack of campaign funds and popular support, has sparked debate about whether low turnout at the April 6 election would hurt progressive candidate Mr. Solís’ legitimacy as president. It also had Costa Ricans buzzing about how the National Liberation Party (PLN), one of Costa Rica’s oldest and most influential political parties, would recover after its most embarrassing electoral defeat in its history....

The same may not be true for Araya.

"If you pull out of the election because it's perceived that you can't win, your political career is essentially over,” Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the New York-based Americas Society says, referencing other runoff scenarios in Latin America, including former Argentine President Carlos Menem who dropped out of a runoff for re-election in 2003.

'No greater enemy'

Solís has since announced a goal of winning at least 1 million votes in order to shore up any lingering doubts as to whether or not he has the support of the Costa Rican people to govern.

“There is no greater enemy to Costa Rican democracy than absenteeism,” Solís told supporters Wednesday night. “It’s the worst thing that could happen to a president in this country with the oldest democracy in Latin America, that the president not have a popular mandate."

Mr. Farnsworth says that absenteeism won’t likely have a long term impact on Solís’ mandate, however. "If 40 percent stay home that's a short term concern, but at the end of the day he's still going to be president...."

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