Lawmakers elect Montserrat Solano as Costa Rica’s new ombudswoman

After three rounds of voting, Costa Rican lawmakers on Tuesday night elected journalist Montserrat Solano Carboni as the country’s new ombudswoman for the next four years.

Solano was one of three top candidates recommended by the Legislative Assembly’s Appointments Commission after 98 people were interviewed beginning on July 14.

It took lawmakers three rounds of voting to finally reach the 29 votes necessary to elect Solano. Those votes came from the ruling Citizen Action Party and the National Liberation Party. Attorney Román Navarro – not originally among the top three candidates – came in second with 28 votes.

The two other candidates proposed by the Appointments Commission – attorney Ricardo Valverde and educator Yanis Quesada – captured no votes in the final round.

Waiting for Solano, a journalist who also holds a master’s degree in law with a focus on human rights, are more than 500 complaints that have accumulated since the resignation of former Ombudswoman Ofelia Taitelbaum on July 7, following an announcement by lawmakers and Judicial Investigation Police that they would investigate allegations she had committed tax fraud and identity theft.