COSTA RICA Supporter of gay marriage selected as next president
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — The governing party won a big presidential runoff election victory Sunday as many voters rejected an evangelical pastor who had jumped into political prominence by campaigning against same-sex marriage.
The head of the Supreme Electoral Council, Luis Antonio Sobrado, said that with 90.6 percent of ballots counted Sunday night, Carlos Alvarado of the ruling Citizen Action Party had 60.6 percent of the votes in the runoff election. His opponent, Fabricio Alvarado of the National Restoration party, had 39.4 percent. The two men are not related.
Fabricio Alvarado rose from being a political unknown to the leading candidate in the election’s first round in February after he came out strongly against a call by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for Costa Rica to allow same-sex marriage.
He called the ruling a “sovereign violation” and saw his support balloon in the polls. After polling around 2 percent or 3 percent in December, he surprised the establishment by topping the field of 13 contenders in the Feb. 4 firstround election with 24.9 percent of the votes.
Carlos Alvarado, a novelist and former labor minister who finished second in February to get the final spot in the runoff, spoke in favor of letting gays wed.
Recent opinion polls had said the candidates were running head-to-head going into the runoff, but in the end Carlos Alvarado won handily.
In a speech to supporters, Fabricio Alvarado conceded defeat but said he had managed to raise the banner of “principles and values.”
The two share similarities beyond their family name. Both have backgrounds in journalism and both have recorded music — Fabricio Alvarado as a gospel singer and Carlos Alvardo as a college-age rock ‘n’ roller.
Both candidates also had economic advisers who take a conservative approach to economics, favoring the free market and calling for a reduction in the size of government.