(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The popularity of Costa Rican president Óscar Arias has clearly eroded this month, according to a poll by Unimer published in La Nación. 29 per cent of respondents think Arias’ performance has been good or very good, down 21 points since March.

Arias won the February 2006 presidential election with 40.92 per cent of all cast ballots as the candidate for the National Liberation Party (PLN). Arias had headed the government from 1986 to 1990, and was able to run again after the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly opted to bring back presidential re-election in 2003. He was sworn in for the second time in May 2006.

The government has been recently hit by two major scandals. On Sept. 6, Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court ruled in favour of La Nación in a case involving the Finance Ministry. The Court ordered the government to disclose information on the sale of bonds worth $300 million U.S. to China eight months ago. Costa Rican finance minister Guillermo Zúñiga had refused to grant any information on the sale to the newspaper.

Last year, the Arias administration controversially broke its long-standing ties with Taiwan in order to do business with China. La Nación found that the transaction of bonds was part of the deal with China.

Another scandal surrounding the government is also related to Taiwan. In August, Costa Rican housing minister Fernando Zumbado—who handles most of the current government’s social policies—tendered his resignation amidst accusations of corruption. Zumbado had stepped aside from his duties in July as authorities investigated his handling of a $1.5 million U.S. donation from Taiwan for the country’s poor. The sum was sent through the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE). The investigation is still ongoing.

On Sept. 15, Arias said that the government never disclosed the sale of bonds to the public because China demanded confidentiality, adding, "I never lied to the Costa Rican people. I have never lied in my life, I have many faults, but one fault I have never had is to lie."

Polling Data

How would you rate Óscar Arias’s performance as president?

Source: Unimer / La Nación
Methodology: Interviews with 1,239 Costa Rican adults, conducted from Aug. 28 to Sept. 4, 2008. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.

Archive Search

Over 19,600 Polls
Search the Angus Reid Global Monitor Polls & Research archive.