IT'S FINALLY OFFICIAL--ARIAS IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000536

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV CS
SUBJECT: IT'S FINALLY OFFICIAL--ARIAS IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT

REF: A. SAN JOSE 443


B. SAN JOSE 525


1. Summary: In a short statement at midday on March 7,
Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) Chief Magistrate Oscar
Fonseca formally declared Oscar Arias the winner of the
February 5, 2006 presidential election. Arias will take
office on May 8. Ref A contains biographical information on
Arias. End Summary.


2. Arias was formally declared President-elect without
ceremony after 30 days of manual vote counting in the closest
Costa Rican election in decades. The TSE's Fonseca also
declared Laura Chinchilla First Vice President, and Kevin
Casas Second Vice President. (Note: In Costa Rica, all three
run on the same ticket. End Note.) Fonseca listed the final
vote count for all 14 candidates in the presidential race.
Despite nine workdays spent resolving some 700 complaints of
irregularities, the vast majority presented by the
second-place Citizen's Action Party (PAC),the final count
changed by only two votes in Arias's favor. An additional 33
votes were declared valid, raising the total to 1,623,992
votes cast. Arias's final margin of victory remains a mere
1.12 percent (40.92 percent of the vote for Arias as compared
to 39.8 percent for Solis, a difference of only 18,169
votes).


3. Arias called a press conference at his campaign
headquarters after the announcement. (Note: Called "House of
Victory" during the campaign, Arias now calls the building
"House of the People". End Note.) Arias congratulated the
people of Costa Rica, the media, and the TSE for their roles
in reaching a transparent and positive electoral result.
Arias stated his belief that Costa Ricans had voted for him
due to his record of keeping promises and standing up to the
"two superpowers" in the Central American peace process
during his first stint in office (1986-1990). While support
had come from all age groups and social sectors, Arias said
he owed a special debt of gratitude to poor Costa Ricans who
had overwhelmingly supported him. Arias also stressed the
positive role played by the TSE's magistrates who, according
to Arias, managed the difficult process with elegance despite
"undue pressure from some sectors." Arias opined that in any
other Latin American country, people would have taken to the
streets instead of waiting patiently for official results.
He credited the media for its effective coverage of the
process which, according to Arias, allowed the population to
maintain confidence in its transparency. In an effort to
strike a conciliatory note, Arias said that he would "build
bridges to his opponents." Arias claimed that his outreach
efforts would help him define his administration's
priorities. Then Arias crisply informed the media that he
would announce his cabinet when he was ready to do so and not
a day earlier.


4. The Vice Presidents-elect reached out to the opposition
in their remarks. Chinchilla called for all sectors to join
in a national dialogue. She reminded those sectors that had
been disruptive during the electoral process that dialogue
was the only legitimate way to resolve differences. Speaking
to reporters before Arias arrived at the conference, Casas
acknowledged the need for extensive dialogue in order to
construct the national agenda. Casas also said that his
party had "a lot of work to do" in the wake of surprisingly
close elections, and he congratulated the people of Costa
Rica for their patience and maturity while awaiting the final
results.

LANGDALE