With only 61 days to the voting booths, the political campaign has narrowed down the choices to only three candidates, José María Villalta, Otto Guevara (Red)and Johnny Araya (Green) and in the in that order according to the latest poll by Unimer published in La Nacion.
The poll by Unimer taken between November 8 and 28, reveals that support for Villalta (Frente Amplio) ranges betwween 17% and 22%, while for Guevara (Movimiento Libertario) and Araya (Partido Liberación Nacional), between 14% and 19% in both cases.
Villalta has shown a growth in his candidacy, while Araya has lost almost half of the support he had in September, Moreso, of the “decided” votes they are for Villalta.
Araya, who had been the front runner during the last several months, and with more than twice the support when the election campaign started a few weeks ago, had this to day on the results, “we will act as the results are correct”. “Things can change”, says Araya, who only a few months ago looked like a shoe-in to take Liberación to the third consecutive government.
Otto Guevara announced publicly that he will shift his focus of constantly criticizing Johnny Araya to a strategy against his new rival, in a battle for first place with José María Villalta.
“The polarization of Otto-Johnny is behind us, and now comes a transitional sage: a combination of what we had thought of doing, supplemented by a campaign polarization against Villalta”, says Guevara.
“Being in first place for the first time shows that people are very receptive, they want change, they are listening to our proposals. We are going to follow the same line, with a proactive campaign without fear and the smear campaigns against us”, said Villalta, following learning of the poll results.
Sources: La Nacion, AmeliaRueda.com, TeleNoticias, CRHoy.com
“Otto Guevara makes me laugh. People believe him less and less despite spending millions on advertising”, says Villalta.
The frontrunner added that neither Araya nor Guevara are his opponent, but rather, voter apathy and anti-politics.
Experts do not rule out a second round, as the three candidates divide the vote, none obtaining the required 40% to win.
It is surprising to see that Otto Guevara openly admits that his only message is one of negativity. With that message, I am surprised that he has the reported number of supporters reported, unless there are that many friends who expect to benefit from his influence. I am not surprised at the amount of voter apathy, especially regarding the presidential election. After all, virtually everything that the current president has offered has been rejected either by the legislative assembly or the courts. Perhaps it doesn’t really matter to most Ticos who Costa Rica’s next figurehead will be.
It is certain that the Presidential winner won’t be Villalta. To be ahead in the polls two months before the Election date is a “death knell” to winning. Ask Hillary Clinton!