Costa Rica just had presidential elections this past February 4, but none of the candidates got the required minimum of votes (40%) to be able to win the elections, now, Costa Ricans are forced to vote again in a “second round” for one of the two candidates that got the most votes, Fabricio Alvarado (PRN) or Carlos Alvarado (PAC), this time around whoever gets the most votes, even if the difference is just 1 vote, wins.

The second round of elections by law has to take place the first Sunday of April, in this case April 1. April’s fool for many, but in Costa Rica, a country with a strong religious tradition, there’s something more important being celebrated that day, Easter Sunday.

“The rule states that massive activities or any other that affect free transit the day before or the same day of the elections are prohibited. This would include religious parades”, explained Hector Fernandez, director of the electoral registry of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The TSE has now confirmed that the final election process will be held April 1 as established by law, despite the opposition of some, because “neither the Political Constitution nor the laws that regulate the faculties and competency of the TSE, establish the possibility of changing the date of the second round”.

Therefore, all religious parades regularly held in Easter Sunday will have to be celebrated within the churches and not in the streets as it has been traditionally done.

“A second round is like the second part of the same process, the conditions to vote are exactly the same. The same registered voters, same number of voting tables both in Costa Rica and abroad, everything is the same. The only change is the ballot”, explained Fernandez.

Organizing this second election process has a cost of approximately U.S. $2.8 million.