Liberation Candidate Announces Own Party

ANTONIO Álvarez, one of theNational Liberation Party (PLN) frontrunnersfor presidential candidate for the2006 elections, announced this week he isleaving the party to form his own.He said he made the decision becausethe PLN is paralyzed by corruption.“The only difference between the(ruling Social Christian) Unity Party(PUSC) and Liberation seems to be theability of some to not leave tracks whereothers have been discovered,” he told thedaily La Nación.He said he plans to create his ownparty and run for President in 2006.Some within the PLN consider hismove opportunistic because he didn’t farewell against ex-President and Presidentialcandidate Oscar Arias in the distritales, akind of presidential primaries within theparty.“Álvarez never mentioned corruption.There are other reasons for his leaving,but they are of a very different nature,among them, his electoral failure,” saidFrancisco Antonio Pacheco, president ofPLN.