Costa Rica’s governing party nearly ‘erased’ by election

By JAVIER CORDÓBA
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica’s Citizens’ Action Party broke 60 years of bipartisan rule in 2014, but after two terms in power it has been practically erased from the country’s political map in national elections. Outgoing President Carlos Alvarado’s party got less than 1% of the votes cast Sunday, according to the latest preliminary results from the Supreme Elections Tribunal. The party didn’t even earn one of the 57 seats in Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly. The party’s presidential candidate, lawmaker Welmer Ramos, was never able to shake the unpopularity of Alvarado and the frustrated “change” that the party had promised.