QCOSTARICA – Luis Guillermo Solis, president of Costa Rica, is the second worst president in Central America according to a recent poll, ‘Evaluación de Labores de los Presidentes del Área’, by Cid Gallup.
Worst than Solis, is Otto Perez Molina, former president of Guatemala (president at the time of the poll), who was forced out office recently on charges of corruption and being part of a group of public officials to have defrauded the state.
Solis got a 14% favourable (only 4 percentage points higher than Perez) in the poll.
Top spot as the best president in Central America goes to Daniel Ortega, president of the Nicaragua, with a 66% favourable. (Second if you include Daniel Medina, president of the Dominican Republic, that was included in the poll).
Following Ortega is Juan O. Hernandez, president of Honduras, with a 39% favourable, followed by Juan C. Varela, president of Panama, with 30%, and Salvador Sanchez, president of El Salvador, with a 25% favourable.
Alejandro Maldonado, president of Guatemala was not included in the poll, elected after the Cid Gallup poll was taken.
CID Gallup, headquartered in Costa Rica, offers market research and consulting services in more than 20 countries in Latin American and the Caribbean.
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This poll result is due, at least in part, to the fact that Costa Ricans expect the impossible from their president, who has very little power – the legislative assembly has to pass laws that stand up to court scrutiny. Another factor is that Costa Ricans do not fear the government, as do citizens of some of our neighboring countries.
What is available to the President and not utilized in an effective manner, is the Decree granting powers of the Presidency (Executive Branch), which, in many cases, is able to by-pass the Legislature in enacting laws “to get the job done”. Obviously, there is room for abuse in such circumstances, which has to be guarded against, but it does have its place in making a Government more efficient and effective. Laws can be enacted in a more expeditious manner, where such a Decree granting power is available to be utilized by a President.