always been populist, open to social change and allied to the Communist party of the time and the Catholic Church with whom they former a trio for the Revolution of the ‘40s but has evolved to adjust to the neoliberal thesis of the Washington consensus, which are well represented in the policies of Miguel Angel Rodriguez’ current administration, which is from this party.

Both parties have been experiencing a deep crisis: an internal crisis and a credibility crisis of the people in them. Credibility rates have considerably dropped, worsening the fights among the trends of these parties and making them seek answers to people’s unmet demands. Therefore, the PUSC has divided though officially united and a sort of ‘political deserter’ candidate turned up, Abel Pacheco, a psychiatrist that stands for the return to populism and detachment from the most radical neoliberal thesis of the current administration.

In the PLN some sectors intended to restore the traditional interventionist state rule that had characterized the movement so much while another sector led by current candidate Rolando Araya, a mechanical engineer with a long-running tradition in the party whose source of inspiration is the Third Way proposed by Tony Blair or Felipe González.

Both parties have suffered the exit of leaders and opposition to candidates giving rise to political movements that had not participated before and that can prompt votes division. Consequently, this may lead to a segmented Legislature and governance problems.

"If the political campaign highlights the personalities I daresay Pacheco wins,
if the emphasis is on programmatic issues and popular organization and movement,
then I bet on Araya’s victory"

Thinking what people need and demand and the current scenario of Costa Rica, what should the political agenda include?

The next administration has a complex political agenda.

First, because the country abandoned the scheme it had traditionally developed and attempted to adopt a neoliberal model that was rejected and left the reform process half-way. This makes it impossible to return to the shores but it s unclear how to get to the other side. To that end, it is essential to heal public finances as for many years the two traditional parties have squandered money –including corruption practices- and a fiscal deficit is having a negative effect on interest rates and also affect production.

Secondly, the State had grown so much and spawned widespread red tape that raised the price of public services and affected their efficiency. So far, attempts have aimed at solving financial woes with failed results. So people feel public services are more expensive and less efficient.

We were just talking about the rifts in political parties. Are there possibilities for coalitions to rise in view of the 2002 elections?

Our country has no tradition of coalitions. This phenomenon could probably emerge from next year’s elections. Right now, it seems unlikely because stances are mixed. The leaders that have forged new parties want to preserve their shape and so there are signs of governance problems in terms that the legislative votes will be highly fragmented.

However, the country also has the tradition that certain measures that appear as urgent and national may be made in negotiations and talks that characterize the national political life. Anyway, I think the mechanism of dialogue will prevail here though without forging coalitions, which from the functioning perspective of the Legislature makes the emerging government in the coming elections face a hard political task.

Today in Costa Rica rumors point to a technical tie between presidential candidates. Who do you think will win the Presidency?

Well, the technical tie is apparently based in two different things: for one, PUSC candidate Pacheco’s popularity and for another, the structure and organization of candidate Araya Monge. It will depend much on the political campaign. If the political campaign highlights the personalities I daresay Pacheco wins, if the emphasis is on programmatic issues and popular organization and movement, then I bet on Araya’s victory. But this is a question mark that will be answered during the campaign.