QCOSTARICA – The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica (TSE) – Supreme Electoral Tribunal, reported this Friday that it has finished the printing of the ballots to be used for the presidential and legislative elections on February 6.
After completing the printing of just over 7 million ballots, the TSE began packing them into bags that will be distributed to the 6,767 polling stations that will open throughout the country on election day.
“Since yesterday we started (to pack) and we hope to finish on the 20th,” said the director of the TSE Registry, Héctor Fernández, on Friday.
On February 6, 3.5 million Costa Ricans are called to the polls to elect the president and the 57 legislators of Congress for the 2022-2026 period.
For a candidate to win the presidency in the first round, he or she needs 40% of the valid votes. Failing a candidate reaching the 40%, a second electoral round will be held on Sunday, 3 April 2022, between the two candidates who have obtained the most votes.
The 2022 elections will have the record number of presidential candidates: 25.
The TSE reiterated this Friday that all people have the right to vote and therefore suffering from covid-19 is not an impediment to going to the polls, although it did urge the population to maintain sanitary measures.
Read more: Voting with a sanitary order? It is legal but not recommended for infections
The TSE issued a resolution last Tuesday, suffering from covid-19 is not an impediment for people to vote, since it is a political right that can only be suspended “when so provided by a jurisdictional body, regulatory entity that they do not have health orders, which are administrative acts.”
The TSE warned that “no public authority, nor the members of the voting board can prevent him from voting just because he has been ordered to isolate himself or because he shows symptoms that lead to the presumption that he is infected with SARS-CoV-2.”
Costa Rica is currently experiencing the fourth wave of covid-19 infections due to the omicron variant that is generating an exponential growth in cases not seen during the pandemic.
