Anti-gay evangelical singer surges ahead in polls for upcoming Costa Rican election

Anti-gay evangelical pastor Fabricio Alvarado Munoz has taken advantage of a recent swing in homophobic attitudes in Costa Rica to become the leading presidential candidate. Following the ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Costa Rica has been told it must recognise same-sex marriage. This has proven controversial in a country mostly comprised of Roman Catholics and conservatives. Fabricio Alvarado Munoz has used this controversy to his advantage, rising in the polls on an anti-same-sex marriage platform.

Alvarado Munoz, a former TV journalist and now-popular evangelical Christian singer, has entered the race as a defender of traditional family values and seen a surge in popularity that would’ve been previously unthinkable. He called the court’s ruling “a violation of the country’s sovereignty and an affront to traditional values… We have to stand up to those who want to trample on the family.”

If elected he promises to remove Costa Rica from the Human Rights treaty binding them to this verdict.

An Opol poll released this week reveals Alvarado Munoz holding the lead with 36.5 percent of the vote, while Carlos Alvarado Quesada, the current president and a supporter of same-sex marriage, trials behind at 27.7 percent. A similar CID Gallup poll has Alvarado Munoz with 4.5 percent lead.

The polls haven’t deterred Alvarado Quesada who maintains that “the Costa Rica of the 21st century requires a government that knows how to move forward with vigour, love, happiness (and) the agenda of equality.”

The run-off election will be held April 1st.


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