In a political gamble, citizens want a Nobel laureate to return to power.

Mario Canseco

Re-election. The very word makes many Latin Americans shiver. Constitutional amendments allowed Alberto Fujimori to rule Peru for 10 consecutive years. Now buried under allegations of corruption, misuse of power and electoral fraud, Fujimori defends himself via a website from his home in Japan.

Now Costa Rica, a country with no armed forces, traditionally regarded as the less conflictive nation of Central America, has decided to allow former presidents to run for office again.

It all began with a CID-Gallup poll last January, in which 56 per cent of respondents said they agreed with re-election. Last week, five of the seven magistrates in the Costa Rican Supreme Court eliminated Article 162 of the Constitution—a paragraph that had banned re-election in the country since 1969.

The decision seems almost custom-made for Óscar Arias Sánchez, who governed Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990. Arias—now 62—won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, for his democratic proposals and actions on how to deal with violence in Central America. The former president has spent the last three years expressing his interest in a new run. When his name was thrown into the mix, even more respondents—62 per cent—wanted to do away with Article 162.

Current head of state Abel Pacheco has been in office for less than a year, but many Costa Ricans are already looking ahead to 2006, when Arias will be a presidential candidate once again.

Five former Costa Rican presidents could also become prospective candidates. Only two former leaders—Luis Alberto Monge and Rafael Angel Calderón—have publicly stated they are against re-election.

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