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The 2018 general elections in Costa Rica showed a discursive confrontation that seemed unlikely. During the second round of the elections, where the presidency was disputed, the "Acción Ciudadana" Party (pac) led by Carlos Alvarado and the "Restauración Nacional" (rn) party led by Fabricio Alvarado showed a dialectical discursivity. On the one hand, the social democratic tradition is expected. However, on the other hand, and worryingly, there is a restoration of conservative and religious fundamentalism. From this discursive duality, these messages are comparatively analyzed starting from contrasting assumed and assigned symbols from the discursive strategies of the two political parties in electoral conflict. The central interest of this paper is to show the thrust of the religious allegorical discourse that permeated the presidential campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the religious-conservative agenda in the political discourse during the national electoral campaign in Costa Rica (2013-2014). To perform the analysis, ideas established by aspiring parties in their Government Programs were studied, as well as the statements that were offered by the main aspirants to the Presidency during televisive debates. It is concluded that the religious-conservative agenda did not play a predominant role in the political-electoral discourse, nevertheless, it seems to be still important as a discursive strategy for vote capture and political attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent presidential elections in Costa Rica (2013-2014) left to see a number of circumstances ranging from historical trends, through fractures to socio-symbolic breaks that have recomposed the scene of political messages. This paper makes an introduction to the study of that process from three interrelated dimensions: political parties, candidates and political elements of the Costa Rican culture. The study concludes by analyzing the trend of personalization as a basic factor in the age of media and individualization, a fracturein the dispute over the legitimate political symbols such as centrality, and finally with a break in the sense of a recent addition in terminology used in speeches and electoral messages that gives different horizons for the study of Costa Rican political communication tone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent elections in Costa Rica presented an unusual social-political dimention. One of those dimensions was the debates transmitted by different mass media. The main topic of this paper addresses a systematic analysis of symbolic elements encountered and used in several debates during the presidential electoral campaign. Through an specific methodology, we identified markers and different contents used by the candidates during their speeches, and analize the electoral process and make linkages with contextualizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the result of an investigation that followed up the presidential elector campaign 2014, Costa Rica. In the 350 printed editions of La Nación, Diario Extra and La Teja papers, which were published during the 2014 presidential campaign (from October 2nd 2013 to February 1st 2014) a total of 1417 electoral promises were made as part of chronicles, stories and interviews to candidates to the Presidency of the Republic of Costa Rica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper highlights the importance of electoral observation as a new way to involve citizens in political processes. It outlines the scope of this practice in democratic contexts, taking observation as a tool for recording data on the administration and organization of the elections, and also the possibility of guaranteeing the transparency of the process and the behavior of political actors. It also shows the experience of Alajuelita with an analysis in the last two elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses key aspects of the debate on political parties and power networks, focusing empirically analyze the presence of such actors within political parties Liberación Nacional y Partido Unidad Social Cristiana and their presence on the formation of cabinets in the Costa Rican government. Highlights CINDE alliance partners, CEFSA and the Central American Academy, who control the state institutions linked to the export sector from 1986 to 2010. It discusses the limits of procedural democracy to allow such corporate trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I analyze the connections that occurred between the electoral offer of candidate Laura Chinchilla and the new demographic, social and sexual realities of Costa Rica, which help to understand why mainly women and older people voted for her. In addition, I explain the new challenges the Costa Rican society faces in terms of a necessary new social and sexual contract, and the prospect of its approach, or not, by the Government of the first woman President. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]