Yearbook 2010
Costa Rica. On February 7, for the fifth time in the
history of Latin America, a woman was elected president.
According to
COUNTRYAAH, Costa Rica
has a population of 4.999 million (2018). Laura Chinchilla of the ruling party PLN (Partido de
Liberación Nacional) clearly won by 47 percent of the vote,
twice as many as the main competitor Ottón Solís of the
center-left party PAC (Partido Acción Ciudadana). The profit
margin has not been greater since 1982, and no other
election round was needed. Chinchilla is widely considered
to be the very popular outgoing President Oscar Arias
patron. In the congressional elections held at the same
time, however, things did not go so well for PLN; the party
is still the largest but lost three seats and thus still
lacks its own majority in the already highly divided
chamber.
At the end of the year, it was called again in relations
with neighboring Nicaragua as a result of an old border
conflict between the countries on the San Juan River. The
International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2009 found
that the area belongs to Nicaragua but also that Costa Rica
has the right to free civil maritime traffic on the river.
In October, armed police were deployed at a border section
against Nicaragua, and in November Nicaraguan troops
occupied the island of Isla Calero, prompting Costa Rica to
protest with the US-based OAS.
|
