Costa Rica to hold Second Round of Presidential Elections

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 02, 2002

Costa Rica to hold Second Round of Presidential Elections

Costa Rica will hold a second round of presidential elections -- the final stage of the campaign -- on April 7, authorities said on Monday.

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Costa Rica will hold a second round of presidential elections -- the final stage of the campaign -- on April 7, authorities said on Monday.

Candidates Abel Pacheco from the Costa Rican ruling Social Christian Union Party (PUSC) and Rolando Araya from the National Liberation Party (PLN) are rivals in the run-off.

Commenting six days before the second round of elections, Pacheco said he was calm. Even though opinion polls favor him, he said he is not feeling smug. He called on his followers "not to anticipate victory" until the official results of the voting were released.

Meanwhile, Araya said he would focus on media this week as a final bid.

As election day approaches, officials from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and some politicians were concerned about a high number of abstentions during the election.

The first round was held on February 3, in which abstention grew to 31.16 percent, as 710,433 registered voters did not cast ballots in the 6,681 polling stations throughout the country.

An opinion poll made by Unimer for the local daily La Nacion forecasts a 41-percent abstention in the run-off, while Cid-Gallup 's poll made for daily La Republica and Repretel, project 46 percent abstentions.

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