Center-left author wins Costa Rica presidency with support for gay rights

[webfact]

Center-left author wins Costa Rica presidency with support for gay rights

By David Alire Garcia and Enrique Andres Pretel

 

A combination picture shows presidential candidate Fabricio Alvarado Munoz, an evangelical Christian of the National Restoration Party (PRN), and Carlos Alvarado Quesada, presidential candidate of the ruling Citizens' Action Party (PAC), as they attend a debate before a second-round presidential election runoff in San Jose, Costa Rica March 25, 2018. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate/Files

 

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - The center-left's Carlos Alvarado Quesada decisively defeated a conservative Protestant singer in Costa Rica's presidential runoff election on Sunday by promising to defend gay rights, handing a major victory to the ruling party.

 

Former minister and fiction writer Alvarado Quesada, 38, had 61 percent of the vote with results in from 91 percent of polling stations. His rival, Alvarado Munoz, a 43-year-old former TV journalist, had 39 percent of the vote.

 

Alvarado Quesada, who will be the youngest president in the modern history of Costa Rica, used the campaign to appeal to the progressive streak in a country known for pacifism and ecological stewardship.

 

Alvarado Munoz, best known for religious dance songs and ballads, has vowed to restore what he calls traditional values by preventing gay marriage and restricting women's access to abortions.

 

The election exposed deep divisions in the Central American tourist destination known for its laid-back beach culture and pristine rainforests, but whose rural communities remain socially conservative.

 

It could also reflect the mood elsewhere in Latin America, where several countries that have backed same sex unions are holding elections in 2018.

 

At a polling place in the western Pavas neighborhood of the capital San Jose, Alvarado Quesada, until recently a minister in the outgoing government also known for his student rock band, voted and spoke briefly to supporters.

 

"Costa Rica is an amazing country and we want to not only preserve its great democracy, its peaceful nature, its respect for the environment and human rights, but we also want to move Costa Rica forward," he said.

 

Shortly after Alvarado Munoz cast his vote at a school in the capital he pledged to lead a government free of bias, in a possible sign that he had sensed his hardline stance was turning off centrist voters.

 

"We're going to work for everyone and we won't discriminate against anyone. We will protect all groups that have felt vulnerable ... people with disabilities, people with different sexual orientations," he told reporters.

 

The two men took opposing positions on a January decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an influential regional body based in San Jose.

 

Fabricio, as supporters refer to Alvarado Munoz, called the ruling an affront to sovereignty. Threatening to remove the country from the court's jurisdiction, he shot from the margins to win the first round of voting in February.

 

Quesada, by contrast, backed the court's ruling. In the campaign's final debate, he called his opponent's comments homophobic.

 

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Enrique Andres Pretel; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-02

[geriatrickid]

Score one for common sense. An evangelical singer wanted to promote traditional rights by denying the civil rights of  gays and women. Ok there. Thankfully he was trounced.

[Jingthing]

That's surprisingly good news.

The reports last night were that this vote was expected to very close and could go either way.

Turns out the decent guy won by a landslide over the fear mongering bible thumper.

There was recently a BBC show about the abortion laws in nearby El Salvador. Women are going to jail for 30 to 40 years for that and in some cases they were miscarriages, not abortions. Totally illegal without exceptions.

Any woman with a little money can pay for an illegal one. The ones getting arrested are the poorest of the poor, often rape victims of gang members.

Costa Rica has been more advanced than that. Great to hear that's continuing. 

To add, the reports also said the gay civil rights debate was the major issue in this election, so this landslide is even more impressive. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Jingthing

[Krataiboy]

Can't wait to see the first transgender Mayor of London. Got to be an improvement on the present incumbent.

[HLover]

4 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Can't wait to see the first transgender Mayor of London. Got to be an improvement on the present incumbent.

True.