This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000319 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICA CONTINUES TO STUMBLE TOWARD ELECTION 
RESULTS; ARIAS WIDENS HIS LEAD 
 
REF: A. SAN JOSE 0283 
 
     ¶B. SAN JOSE 0304 
 
¶1. Summary: Oscar Arias appeared to have gotten a boost 
during the initial stages of a full manual vote recount from 
the February 5 national elections.  Going into the manual 
count, Arias led chief rival Otton Solis by a slim 3,250 
votes, with 89 percent of precincts counted.  Results from 
the manual count of 712 precincts, which represent the final 
11 percent of the national total, show Arias gaining over 
10,000 votes.  The Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) has 
stated it will not release full results until after the 
manual count is complete, which could come as late as the 
statutorily mandated March 17.  End summary. 
 
¶2. News outlets and party contacts reported on February 9 
that, based on unofficial results from the partial manual 
vote count, presidential candidate Oscar Arias has 
significantly widened his lead over his chief rival, Otton 
Solis.  Of the 712 uncounted precincts from Sunday night, 
some 650 had reportedly been counted by Wednesday, with Arias 
getting a boost of 10,650 votes from those tables alone. 
While electoral officials have been careful to warn against 
combining the results of the partial manual count with those 
from the partial electronic count, most observers have done 
just that, concluding that with all voting stations tallied, 
Arias leads by some 14,000 votes. 
 
¶3. After setting and missing several deadlines for the 
announcement of provisional election results, the Supreme 
Elections Tribunal (TSE) on Thursday reversed course, stating 
that it will not release vote totals until a full manual 
recount is complete.  Several media outlets have joined the 
TSE in deciding not to publish or discuss any further partial 
 
SIPDIS 
results.  With the manual recount efforts averaging 400 
tables per day out of a total 6,163 tables, the TSE will have 
a hard time meeting its statutory deadline of March 17 for 
final certification of the presidential results. 
 
¶4. In an effort to keep the populace at least marginally 
informed, the TSE is releasing the results of each day's 
manual recount on its website, http://www.tse.go.cr.  Adding 
to voter confusion, the website does not provide daily vote 
totals, much less a running tabulation of all polling 
stations, but rather lists the vote counts for each station 
separately.  While this won't stop local media and party 
organizations from tabulating the results on their own, most 
citizens will be daunted by the endless rows of raw data. 
 
¶5. As the manual recount continues, the issue of how to 
handle nullified votes remains to be decided.  Of the 1.45 
million votes included in the initial counting, 21,000 were 
nullified by the local election boards.  Embassy has learned 
that party officials from both the National Liberation Party 
(PLN) and the Citizens' Action Party (PAC) are meticulously 
examining each of these votes to determine whether they were 
properly voided.  Based on anecdotal reports of contention 
among the examiners, it appears that stray pen marks are 
poised to become Costa Rica's "hanging chads." 
 
¶6. No changes were reported in the race for the Legislative 
Assembly, though three seats remained in contention, pending 
final recount.  By law, the TSE has 50 working days to 
complete their certification of legislative elections, so it 
is highly unlikely that the recount for legislators will 
begin until after the presidential certification, with its 
deadline of 30 working days, is complete. 
LANGDALE