Evangelical tied with major party candidate in Costa Rica race: poll

JANUARY 25, 2018 / 6:09 PM / UPDATED 22 MINUTES AGO

Reuters Staff


SAN JOSE (Reuters) - A conservative Christian evangelical from a tiny party and the candidate of one of Costa Rica’s main political groups are leading the field ahead of the first round of the country’s presidential election next month, a poll showed on Thursday.

Journalist Fabricio Alvarado, the only lawmaker from the evangelical National Restoration party, was effectively tied with Antonio Alvarez, from the conservative National Liberation Party (PLN), according to the poll from OPol Consultores.

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Coffee-producing Costa Rica, one of Central America’s more prosperous and stable nations, had been ruled by a two-party dynasty for decades until an upset in the 2014 vote, won by a center-left academic who had never held elected office.

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The poll tallied with others that showed Alvarez enjoying a meteoric rise after he opposed a January ruling by the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights that called for same-sex marriage to be legalized in Latin America.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-costa-rica-election/evangelical-tied-with-major-party-candidate-in-costa-rica-race-poll-idUSKBN1FF00D?rpc=401&