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ORGANIZATION of AMERICAN STATES ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION NATIONAL ELECTIONS COSTA RICA February 4, 2018 (National Election

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ORGANIZATION of AMERICAN STATES ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION NATIONAL ELECTIONS COSTA RICA February 4, 2018 (National Election ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION NATIONAL ELECTIONS COSTA RICA February 4, 2018 (National Elections) April 1, 2018 (Presidential Election, Second Round) FINAL REPORT 1 CONTENTS I. FINAL REPORT TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL ................................................................... 3 1. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 3 2. NATIONAL ELECTIONS (February 4, 2018) .................................................................... 4 2.1 Pre-electoral phase .......................................................................................... 4 2.2 Election day ...................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Post-electoral phase ........................................................................................ 7 3. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, SECOND ROUND (April 1, 2018) .......................................... 9 3.1 Pre-electoral phase .......................................................................................... 9 3.2 Election day .................................................................................................... 11 3.3 Post-electoral phase ...................................................................................... 11 4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................ 12 4.1 Public information programs ........................................................................ 12 4.2 Surveys ........................................................................................................... 12 4.3 Electoral organization and technology .......................................................... 12 4.4 Party and campaign financing ........................................................................ 15 4.5 Political participation by women ................................................................... 16 4.6 Electoral justice .............................................................................................. 17 5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. 18 2 I. FINAL REPORT TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL1 1. BACKGROUND On June 29, 2017, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) received an invitation from the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) of Costa Rica to deploy an Electoral Observation Mission (EOM/OAS) to observe its national elections on February 4, 2018. On July 7, 2017, the General Secretariat accepted the invitation and appointed former President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana, as the Chief of Mission. Costa Rica’s citizens went to the polls on February 4 to elect a new President and Vice Presidents of the Republic and fifty-seven (57) deputies to sit in the Legislative Assembly. In that election, 3,322,329 Costa Ricans were eligible to vote, of whom 31,864 were registered to vote abroad. Thirteen presidential candidates, representing the following political organizations, competed in the election: Citizens’ Action Party (PAC), National Restoration Party (PRN), National Liberation Party (PLN), Christian Social Unity Party (PUSC), National Integration Party (PIN), Christian Social Republican Party (PRSC), Broad Front (FA), Libertarian Movement (ML), Christian Democratic Alliance (ADC), Accessibility without Exclusion Party (PASE), Workers’ Party (PT), New Generation Party (PNG), and Costa Rican Renewal Party (PRC). On Monday, February 5, 2018, the day following the election, the EOM/OAS presented a Preliminary Report containing its main observations and recommendations. None of the candidates for President and Vice Presidents of the Republic won more than 40% of the valid votes in the national election of February 4. Accordingly, after the final count had concluded on February 15, 2018, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) ruled that a second-round election would be held between the two highest-scoring candidates on April 1, 2018:2 Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz of the National Restoration Party, who secured 24.99% of the first-round votes, and Carlos Alvarado Quesada of the Citizens’ Action Party, who obtained 21.63%. On February 15, 2018, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States received the Supreme Electoral Court’s invitation to observe the second round of the presidential election on April 1, 2018. On February 20, the General Secretariat accepted the invitation and established a team to follow up on the work of the EOM/OAS, which was once again led by former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana. Due to budgetary constraints, the OAS General Secretariat was unable to deploy an Electoral Observation Mission with the characteristics and scope that had initially been defined. For the election of February 4, the work of the mission’s 15 members focused on technical aspects relating 1 A summary of this report was read by the Chief of Mission, Andrés Pastrana, to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, at its meeting on February 6th , 2019. 2 Constitution of Costa Rica, Title X, Chapter I, Article 138. 3 to the election’s organization and use of technology, the political participation of women, and electoral justice, with a very restricted deployment of observers in the field. For the presidential second round, the GS/OAS was only able to deploy a follow-up team of four persons, led by President Pastrana. In 1962, Costa Rica became the first OAS member state to receive an Electoral Observation Mission. The presidential second round of April 1, 2018, was the fifteenth election in the country to be observed by the OAS. This document is the Final Report of the mission. It supplements the Preliminary Report presented following the national elections and the press release published after the presidential second round and provides greater detail on the various issues observed. It also expands on the recommendations formulated to assist Costa Rica in strengthening its electoral processes. 2. NATIONAL ELECTIONS (February 4, 2018) The Mission deployed for the national elections of February 4, 2018, comprised 15 experts and observers representing 13 different nationalities, of whom 40% were women and 60% were men. The Mission’s observation consisted of a substantive analysis of the organization of the election and of the technology used, party and campaign financing, political participation by women, and electoral justice. 2.1 Pre-electoral phase The Electoral Observation Mission began its work on the ground on January 25, with the arrival of the core group specialists in San José. In order to ensure a clear understanding of the technical aspects of the election, and gather the views of the different players involved, the Mission met with government authorities, the plenary of the Supreme Electoral Court, directors and officials of the Court’s technical areas, representatives of civil society, academics, former Presidents of the Republic, members of the diplomatic community, and political parties and candidates. Of the contenders in the election, the Mission met with the National Restoration Party (PRN), the Citizens’ Action Party (PAC), the National Liberation Party (PLN), the Christian Social Unity Party (PUSC), the Broad Front (FA), the National Integration Party (PIN), and the Progressive Liberal Party. Upon his arrival in San José, the Chief of Mission, former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana, signed the Agreement between the Supreme Electoral Court of the Republic of Costa Rica and the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States regarding the observation procedure for the presidential and legislative elections of February 4, 2018, with Luis Antonio Sobrado, Presiding Magistrate of the TSE. Prior to election day, the Mission observed the high level of competition between the candidates and the positive organization of numerous debates in different media outlets. Those occasions enabled the electorate to learn about the candidates’ proposals and to take better informed and more carefully considered decisions about their electoral preferences. However, the EOM noted that 4 political parties which did not perform well in the opinion polls encountered difficulties in participating, since public opinion surveys were used to determine which parties were to be invited to the debates. The Mission notes with concern the importance given to opinion polls, which in Costa Rica also influence political parties’ access to election funding. Both across the region and in the specific case of Costa Rica, OAS Missions have observed that opinion polls can sometimes be unreliable and imprecise, and are used for political ends, despite not being an effective tool for predicting results. The Mission regretted the heightened aggression in campaign rhetoric following the publication of the advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on gender identity and equality and nondiscrimination toward same-sex relationships. This topic dominated and polarized the political debate, eclipsing all discussion of the parties’ manifestos as a whole. In this electoral process, social networks became an important platform for information sharing. They allowed the TSE to inform the public about the electoral process, allowed political parties to disseminate their proposals, and allowed the electorate to learn about their different political options. In addition, the equal access to the networks enjoyed by
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