Tiny party for disabled now rules Costa Rica Congress
SAN JOSE, May 1, 2012 (AFP) A tiny political party founded to defend the rights of the disabled ascended to the pinnacle of power in Costa Rica on Tuesday, taking control of top posts in Congress as part of a coalition.
The Party for Accessibility without Exclusion whose acronym, PASE, is also the Spanish word meaning "go" or "proceed," has just four of seats in the 57 seat legislature.
But beginning Tuesday it assumes the positions of president, vice president and first secretary of the Congress under a deal reached with the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN) of President Laura Chinchilla.
The PLN, with just 24 seats in the multiparty legislature, is one of the larger parties in this Central American country, but it lacks enough seats to govern outright without the numbers.
The PLN lost control of the Congress after an election setback a year ago to a broad opposition coalition that included PASE. By wooing away the little party, the president's party regains its sway over the legislature.
Under the deal, the government will control all key positions in the financial affairs committee, which approves the national budget.
"Our interest in this new alliance is the win approval of various projects of a social nature that we could not move forward within the (opposition) alliance," said Rita Chavez, a PASE deputy.
PASE is led by Oscar Lopez, a blind lawyer who won election to the Congress in 2006 on a platform championing the rights of the disabled.
