A referendum on the

Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement :''Note: Within this article, "CAFTA" refers to the agreement as it stood before January 2004, and "CAFTA-DR" is used after that.'' The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR; Spanish: ''Tratado de Libre ...

(CAFTA) was held in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

on 7 October 2007. It was originally to be held on 23 September 2007, but it was postponed on 5 June 2007 due to a court challenge. Opinion polls from April, July and August 2007 suggested that a majority of voters were in favour, while a poll from June saw a majority against. It was ultimately approved by 51.56% of voters. The movement against the CAFTA Referendum in Costa Rica brought many members of the Citizens' Action Party to national politics. Several anti-CAFTA organizers have been elected to the Legislative Assembly.

Party positions

Several parties and organizations held a position against CAFTA. These parties were: Citizens' Action, Broad Front , Social Christian Unity,

Accessibility without Exclusion Accessibility without Exclusion (''Partido Accesibilidad sin Exclusión, "PASE"'') is a political party in Costa Rica with a special focus on fighting for the rights of people with disabilities. PASE generally takes socially conservative stan ...

, National Integration, People's Vanguard, National Rescue, Costa Rican Renewal and a sector of National Liberation known as ''Liberacionistas contra el TLC'' (Liberationists against CAFTA). Other organizations that endorsed the "No" vote include nearly all trade unions (APSE, ANDE, SEC, ANEP, FIT-ICE, UNDECA, SINDEU), environmentalists (APREFLOFAS, Coecoceiba, FECON), Costa Rica Firefighter Corps, the Lutheran Costa Rican Church, the LGBT Rights movement, and the '' Cámara de Empresarios Pro-Costa Rica'' (Pro-Costa Rica Chamber of Commerce). Other organizations against the free trade agreement include the students' federation of all four public universities and their respective rectors; the movement itself (Patriotic Movement Against CAFTA) was directed by

Costa Rica Institute of Technology The Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC) ( es, Tecnológico de Costa Rica) is a university in Costa Rica specializing in engineering and advanced science and research, modeled as an institute of technology. Its main campus is located in the Du ...

rector Eugenio Trejos^es National Liberation Party,

Libertarian Movement In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of Conservatism in the United States, conservatism and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberalism in the United St ...

, National Union Party, and National Restoration Party were in favor of Costa Rica's entry to CAFTA, as so was the majority of Social Christian Unity's congressmen in that legislature. Almost all commerce chambers that made up the Union of Commerce Chambers and Private Enterprise Associations (UCCAEP) also voiced their support for the "Yes" vote. The official movement was called the ''Citizens' Alliance for Yes'' and it was led by one of the government's ministers, Alfredo Volio Escalante.

Results

According to the Electoral Supreme Tribunal, the referendum was approved by voters in San Jose, Cartago, Heredia, and Limon provinces. Meanwhile, a majority of voters in Alajuela, Guanacaste and Puntarenas provinces rejected the proposal.Results in Absolute and Relative Numbers for the Referendum 2007
Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones

By canton

References

External links

Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones

(Referendum Site)

Election Results {{DEFAULTSORT:2007 Costa Rican Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement referendum Referendums in Costa Rica

2007 in Costa Rica 2007 in international relations