Top 10 Costa Rica

Costa Rica With 58 Political Parties

There are only 15 months to go before Costa Ricans vote on a new president and already 58 parties have registered with the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE).

Voters of the presidential elections to be held in February 2010 will probably never hear of most of the parties, as some are specialized to represent only certain sectors of the population, like the senior citizen’s party or the disable citizen’s party.

Luis Antonio Sobrado, president of the TSE, feels there is an “over population” of registered political parties.

Sobrado compares the political system in neighbouring countries like El Salvador with 6.8 million inhabitants and only 6 political parties, or Colombia with a population of 42 million and only 8 registered national political parties.

In Costa Rica there is no restriction of the number of political parties or any requirements based on percentage of voters. Many of the parties are provincial and cantonal. National parties, however, are required to have at least 3.000 signatures.