Politics
Switched off
Stable and relatively wealthy Costa Rica heads to the ballot box on Sunday to elect a new president. At the beginning of the campaign political analysts predicted that the main issues of the election would be corruption and the uptick in violence in the country. Instead, a decision last month by the San Jose-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights calling for its members to recognise same-sex unions has riled the country’s more conservative voters and become the hot-button issue. As a result, evangelical former TV news reporter Fabricio Alvarado, known for his opposition to gay rights, has leapt ahead to lead the polls. Will Costa Ricans be swayed by Alvarado’s message or tune him out?