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Partial researchResearch snapshot 2026-09-13. Evidence gaps remain; see Coverage for requirements.

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Office briefing

ARENAL — Syndic and district council — shared ballot

Tracked current office. Identifiers stay separate from display names.

Costa Rica · ARENAL / GUANACASTE · other · Syndic and district council — shared ballotCR-D-GUANACASTE-TILARAN-ARENAL

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TSE vote books joined to official elected-member declarations where geographic and total checks reconcile. Substitutes retained separately. Subsequent replacements and current officeholder status require review.

1. What office, where, and when is the next election?

Geography
ARENAL / GUANACASTE
Next election
2028-02-06
Linked upcoming event
next-ab5ad94dd4538e76d8a50456
Registry qualification
Unknown

2. How certain is that date?

2028-02-06 is expected (not formally called). Day precision. A date without a formal call is not confirmed.

3. Who won earlier selected elections?

2024-02-04

Ordinary · Legal certification not established · list votes

  • LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL61.7%
  • UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANA23.5%
  • AQUÍ COSTA RICA MANDA14.8%
Results for event-5fb20dca9c4a9f6e79091999
Label / candidateParty codeVotesShareSeatsStatus
LIBERACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/202444161.7%3Recorded
UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/202416823.5%1Recorded
AQUÍ COSTA RICA MANDAcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/202410614.8%1Recorded

2020-02-02

Ordinary · Legal certification not established · list votes

  • LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL62.1%
  • NUEVA REPÚBLICA21.0%
  • UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANA12.7%
  • RESTAURACIÓN NACIONAL4.2%
Results for event-f276e9e66be865c1c26d74d7
Label / candidateParty codeVotesShareSeatsStatus
LIBERACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/202050262.1%3Recorded
NUEVA REPÚBLICAcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/202017021%1Recorded
UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/202010312.7%1Recorded
RESTAURACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/2020344.2%0 (recorded zero)Recorded

2016-02-07

Ordinary · Legal certification not established · list votes

  • UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANA60.2%
  • LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL23.1%
  • REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANO8.2%
  • MOVIMIENTO LIBERTARIO5.0%
  • ACCIÓN CIUDADANA2.9%
  • NUEVA GENERACIÓN0.7%
Results for event-e2edce7a3839f831502c5c1b
Label / candidateParty codeVotesShareSeatsStatus
UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/201661060.2%4Recorded
LIBERACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/201623423.1%1Recorded
REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANOcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/2016838.2%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
MOVIMIENTO LIBERTARIOcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/2016515%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
ACCIÓN CIUDADANAcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/2016292.9%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
NUEVA GENERACIÓNcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/201670.7%0 (recorded zero)Recorded

4. Competition and volatility

competition index

Provisional imported-series CI

0 (recorded zero)0–100 historical closeness

Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Provisional imported-series comparison; actual-event review open

Method ci.weighted-gap.v1. Inputs: latest_gap=38.18181818181819, oldest_gap=37.08086785009861, previous_gap=41.03831891223733

pedersen volatility

Provisional volatility

25.59percentage points

Grouped Pedersen lower bound (percentage points). Twelve explicitly named standalone national parties; accent variants normalized. Local parties and coalitions remain Other. No alliance votes are attributed to individual member parties. An interval is withheld if either election has no list mapped to an explicit named group. This is aggregate share change, not individual voter switching. Event review: Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Latest interval

Method pedersen.grouped.v1. Inputs: groups=["PLN","PUSC","PAC","Frente Amplio","PRN","Nueva Republica","PML","PIN","PASE","PRSC","PLP","PPSD","Other"], interval=Latest interval, vectors=[[61.67832167832168,23.496503496503497,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,14.825174825174825],[62.05191594561187,12.73176761433869,0,0,4.202719406674907,21.013597033374538,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],[23.076923076923077,60.15779092702169,2.8599605522682445,0,0,0,5.029585798816568,0,0,8.185404339250493,0,0,0.6903353057199211]]

pedersen volatility

Provisional volatility

64.19percentage points

Grouped Pedersen lower bound (percentage points). Twelve explicitly named standalone national parties; accent variants normalized. Local parties and coalitions remain Other. No alliance votes are attributed to individual member parties. An interval is withheld if either election has no list mapped to an explicit named group. This is aggregate share change, not individual voter switching. Event review: Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Previous interval

Method pedersen.grouped.v1. Inputs: groups=["PLN","PUSC","PAC","Frente Amplio","PRN","Nueva Republica","PML","PIN","PASE","PRSC","PLP","PPSD","Other"], interval=Previous interval, vectors=[[61.67832167832168,23.496503496503497,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,14.825174825174825],[62.05191594561187,12.73176761433869,0,0,4.202719406674907,21.013597033374538,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],[23.076923076923077,60.15779092702169,2.8599605522682445,0,0,0,5.029585798816568,0,0,8.185404339250493,0,0,0.6903353057199211]]

pedersen volatility

Provisional volatility

44.89percentage points

Grouped Pedersen lower bound (percentage points). Twelve explicitly named standalone national parties; accent variants normalized. Local parties and coalitions remain Other. No alliance votes are attributed to individual member parties. An interval is withheld if either election has no list mapped to an explicit named group. This is aggregate share change, not individual voter switching. Event review: Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Both intervals mean

Method pedersen.grouped.v1. Inputs: groups=["PLN","PUSC","PAC","Frente Amplio","PRN","Nueva Republica","PML","PIN","PASE","PRSC","PLP","PPSD","Other"], interval=Both intervals mean, vectors=[[61.67832167832168,23.496503496503497,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,14.825174825174825],[62.05191594561187,12.73176761433869,0,0,4.202719406674907,21.013597033374538,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],[23.076923076923077,60.15779092702169,2.8599605522682445,0,0,0,5.029585798816568,0,0,8.185404339250493,0,0,0.6903353057199211]]

Source-reported control: Unverified. Current tenure requires separate dated evidence.

5. Officeholder evidence

Dated roster observations are not automatically current tenure. The source current-office flag means this office is tracked now, not that the last winner still holds it.

Officeholder observations
PersonRoleAs ofAffiliationPrincipal?
CLAUDIA ALEXANDRA ALVAREZ MEJIASINDICATURAS PROPIETARIA2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
ELKIN CASTRO SIBAJASINDICATURAS SUPLENTE2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
EDGAR ANTONIO ARIAS CASTROCONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIAS2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
THANNYA MARIA MURILLO VILLALOBOSCONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIAS2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
JOSE ARTURO MURILLO ESQUIVELCONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIAS2024UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
SIMON MURILLO MARINCONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIAS2024AQUÍ COSTA RICA MANDAprincipal
CARLOS ANDRES CARVAJAL MORACONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
DEBORA MELISSA LOPEZ MOLINACONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
AURELIO SIBAJA MURILLOCONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2024UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
MARVIN ARTAVIA CONEJOCONCEJALÍAS DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2024AQUÍ COSTA RICA MANDAsubstitute
DEITON JENKINS SALAZARSÍNDICOS(AS) PROPIETARIO2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
MARIA GUADALUPE PRENDAS MONGESÍNDICOS(AS) SUPLENTE2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
EDGAR ANTONIO ARIAS CASTROCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
ROXIRY CASTRO PANIAGUACONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
RAFAEL ANGEL OVIEDO ALFAROCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020NUEVA REPÚBLICAprincipal
GONZALO MURILLO ALVAREZCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
LUIS ROBERTO PEREZ SALASCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
MARIA FERNANDA PORRAS MURILLOCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
VIRGINIA ESQUIVEL SIBAJACONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2020NUEVA REPÚBLICAsubstitute
CAROLINA CHAVES SIBAJACONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2020UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
DEITON JENKINS SALAZARSÍNDICOS(AS) PROPIETARIO2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
NANCY HAZEL JIMENEZ TORRESSÍNDICOS(AS) SUPLENTE2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
ANA MARIA SIBAJA VARGASCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
RANDALL CASTRO PANIAGUACONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
EYLEEN MEJIAS ALVAREZCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
MARTA TORRES CASTROCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
AURELIO SIBAJA MURILLOCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
NURY ALVAREZ MURILLOCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
LUIS ALBERTO MEJIAS ALVAREZCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
MIGUEL ANGEL UGALDE PORRASCONCEJALES DE DISTRITO SUPLENTES2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute

6. Polling context

No local poll supplied.

7. Unresolved issues and sources

  • other · open

    Published province heading correction: {"issue": "Published province heading correction", "year": 2020, "area": "Heredia", "source_id": "S41377daad8", "resolution": "The amendment corrects CARTAGO to HEREDIA in the second table heading. It changes no votes, winners or seats; the original declaration is joined to Heredia."}

Sources

Cite this record

Center for Digital Democracy. “ARENAL — Syndic and district council — shared ballot.” Subnational Election Observatory, releaselatin-america-fe5e91689def, snapshot 2026-09-13. /electiondatabase/offices/CR-D-GUANACASTE-TILARAN-ARENAL. Sources: costa-rica--url-ae6cfb21525f974d8912a00e, costa-rica--url-9b0bf8940eb485b811da317e, costa-rica--url-f8a1e09c9e89a7e5e9c55114, costa-rica--Sc1df243471, costa-rica--S824bd62330, costa-rica--Sfa91292290, costa-rica--S72c72d56b8, costa-rica--S79669f3e5d, costa-rica--Sa556305885.