The government of Luis Guillermo Solís has entered the final stretch. In just 16 months, Costa Ricans will go back to the polls to elect the next president.
The electoral picture is still unclear, but the struggle for the presidential seat will be highly divided.
According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, currently there are 16 parties registered at the national level and 12 at provincial level.
And there might be more, since the registration of at least 17 parties (all of which already submitted their constitutive chart) is still pending.
The Director of the Electoral Register, Hector Fernández, says the number of registered parties is increasing.
The official says that the differences in the parties and the conveniences given by the Constitutional Court, allow many potential candidates to form their own party.
Bipartisanship is a thing of the past. Divisions took away the conditions for it and there are no reasons for it to be different in the next elections. In addition to the registered parties, there are at least 12 candidates more within the Legislature,”
said political scientist Gustavo Araya.
The expert says that voter apathy and abstention give any candidate the possibility of becoming the President.