Costa Rica News - February 10, 2006

Presidential Count Continues; Ballots Will Then Used for Toilet Paper

Despite anything to the contrary, the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), has not proclaimed a winner in Sunday's presidential elections, and according to Oscar Fonseca, president of the TSE, there will not be any until all the ballots have been manually counted.

Both presidential candidates, Oscar Arias of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) and Ottón Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC0 are calling for patience and calm as the TSE does its job. Understandly upset, both men have put on a brave face before the cameras.

The difference following the count of the remaining ballots following the electronic count on Sunday, resulted in an Arias advantage over Solís of 10.539 votes. >> Read more

Puntarenas Carnaval Begins

The Puntarenas 2006 Carnaval is on.

Beginning yesterday and continuing until the 19th, the coastal town of Puntarenas is having its annual party.

The festivities kicked off last at 10pm when Raquel Zamora Pérez was elected queen of the Carnavales de Puntarenas 2006.

Presidential Results Will Be "Official" By End of Month; New Political Scenario Looming

Costa Rica’s new president will only be known at the end of February because the hand counting of ballots is estimated to take another three weeks, announced Wednesday the president of the Tirbunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), Oscar Fonseca..

“Originally we were counting on two weeks but I’m not so sure now; we’ll have to keep waiting to know who’s the next president”, said Fonseca who revealed that the electronic count with 327 voting stations (out of 6.163) pending showed Oscar Arias leading Ottón Solís with 3.868 votes. >> Read more

Cheap Flights ToCentral America

Are you looking for someplace warm to visit this winter? Ever want to explore Costa Rica, Belize, or Guatemala?

Normally those destinations are outrageously expensive, like $700 round-trip or more plus taxes. But right now, you can fly on American from US Air hub cities for about half the normal fare thanks to a sudden, unadvertised fare war between American and USAir.

USAir (www.usair.com) has reduced fares to Belize City (BZE), Guatemala City (GUA); San José, Costa Rica (SJO); and Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) pretty much system-wide. >> Read more

High Environmental Quality

Costa Rica places 15th among 133 countries arranged as per their environmental quality in an index made by Yale University and presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom are at the top of the list, according to Daniel Estym, director of a center for environmental policies at Yale.

The expert pointed out the efforts made by countries such as Costa Rica, Colombia (17th), Chile (26th), and Argentina (309th) in the protection of the environment and the development of clean energy, which promote economic growth and good health for the population.

However, the expert pointed out, even the leaders in the index fall short of achieving the proper levels in the protection of nature, over-fishing, and renewable energy.

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