Ticos apathetic toward 2014 presidential candidates

Nearly half of Costa Rican voters have not yet committed to supporting any candidate in the 2014 presidential elections, according to the latest poll conducted by research firm UNIMER for the daily La Nación.

Less than a year before the elections, 32 percent of voters say they do not know who to vote for, while 22 percent say they will not vote for anyone.

This means that if elections were held today, the voting figures would not be enough to elect any of the current candidates.

To be elected president of Costa Rica a candidate needs at least 40 percent of total voters, otherwise a runoff must be held between the top two candidates.

This only happened in 2002, when President Abel Pacheco beat Rolando Araya.

According to the UNIMER poll, San José Mayor Johnny Araya from the ruling National Liberation Party has 27 percent support of potential voters, while Epsy Campbell from the Citizen Action Party has 4 percent and Otto Guevara from the Libertarian Movement has 3 percent.

At the time of the survey neither Rodolfo Hernández from the Social Christian Unity Party, nor lawmaker José María Villalta, from the Broad Front Party, had announced their presidential bids.

The poll was conducted from Jan. 24-Feb. 4, and included 1,200 citizens throughout the country.