San José (AP) – Costa Rica’s National Liberation Party (PLN) won the municipal elections on Sunday in a landslide.
Official figures from the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) indicated that on Monday, PLN obtained 58 mayoral positions while the opposing Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) won nine and the Citizen’s Action Party (PAC) claimed six.
The minority Access Without Exclusion Party (PASE), lead by the former legislator, Oscar López, garnered two mayoral seats.
The capital city, San José, reelected current mayor, Johnny Araya of the incumbent PLN, who, after the next five years in command, will reach 25 years in office.
Despite an intense campaign that called on citizens to vote, the TSE was unable to significantly decrease the voter absence, which reached 72 percent, nearly 2.5 million voters.
One mayoral seat, in the Caribbean-slope canton of Pococí, remains pending. The election will be next Sunday because the zone is still recovering from strong rains that impacted the area last week.
