Costa Rica elects first woman president (paves way for Palin)

CNN ^ | Feb. 8, 2010 | Roberto Pazos

[BIOCHEMKY]

CNN) -- Costa Rica elected its first female president, as the ruling National Liberation Party claimed a historic victory.

"I want to thank the pioneering women who years ago opened the doors of politics in Costa Rica," Laura Chinchilla said Sunday to flag-waving supporters in the capital, San Jose. "My government will be open to all Costa Ricans of good faith."

Second-place candidate Otton Solis of the Citizen's Action Party had conceded defeat earlier in the evening, as the PLN -- the Spanish acronym for the National Liberation Party party -- forged its way to a nearly 2-to-1 lead.

Polls showed Chinchilla garnering 46.8 percent of the vote, with 84 percent of election sites reporting. Solis had 25.1 percent, while Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement had 20.9 percent.

Election day was festive throughout the nation, with video footage showing supporters of the main presidential candidates dressed in their respective campaign colors.

International observers interviewed on CNN affiliate Teletica compared the election scene to a festival.

The festivities included election sites where children could vote in a mock presidential vote. The educational outreach let the children pick their candidate on a digital ballot not unlike the ones the rest of the electorate cast their votes with.

Some 2.8 million Costa Ricans are eligible to vote.

[Dan Middleton]

There have been a goodly number of queens through the ages, haven’t there? I take it detecting sarcasm is not your strong point.

[Enchante]

sure, it’s good when a political figure has those positions, but that does not mean she’s not a socialist on economic and foreign policy issues — yes, she’s a rarity among leftists for retaining some traditional values but it does not mean that Sarah Palin should campaign with her or that either would want to compaign with the other.... if they can find some common ground on the issues you mention, that’s great, but it’s hard (for me) to imagine they’ll ever want to work together in the way(s) this thread initially recommended.

[AuH2ORepublican]

I never took seriously the theory that Chinchilla could campaign for Palin (why the heck would she ecen if she saw eye-to-eye with Sarah on everything?); I merely wanted to point out that even if her party is Leftist she could well be more conservative than some Republicans.

[Enchante]

well that’s true

in many circumstances she would be preferable to RINOs, although I still would not trust her economic or foreign policies

but you make a good point