Election Timeline

April 28, 2009: Former President Rafael Angel Calderón announces his presidential aspirations. Despite an ongoing trial in which he was accused of corruption, Calderón said, “ I couldn't stand by and do nothing for the country.”

May 31: Ottón Solís, who had made a bid for the presidency in 2002 and 2006, beat out contenders Epsy Campbell and Román Macaya in the Citizen Action Party's (PAC) first primary election. Voter turnout was low (only 22,950 voted), but Solís walked away with 71 percent of the vote, followed by Campbell 's 19 percent and Macaya's 9 percent.

June 7: Former Vice President Laura Chinchilla, in the administration of President Oscar Arias, pulls ahead of San José Mayor Johnny Araya to capture her party's nomination for the 2010 elections. According to the National Liberation Party (PLN), Chinchilla received 286,451 votes (56 percent), followed by Araya's 214,639 (42 percent) and former Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal's 14,894 (3 percent).

July 11-12: Otto Guevara, an attorney and former legislator, secures the Libertarian Movement's (ML) nomination with 123 of the 129 internal votes. A two-time presidential candidate, Guevara would stun political analysts later in the campaign with his success in the polls.

July 29: Legislators pass a new electoral code (42 in favor, three opposed) that reduces the amount of state aid for elections, restricts who can donate to campaigns and eliminates the long-standing dry law. For the first time since 1952, alcohol can legally be served on Election Day. By the next election (in 2014), Costa Rica will introduce absentee voting and require 50-50 percent male to female ratio in the Legislative Assembly. Today, the gender quota for female representation is 40 percent.

Oct. 1: Official kickoff of the election campaign. To an audience of presidential candidates, academics and dignitaries, Supreme Elections Tribunal President Luis Antonio Sobrado said, “Each Costa Rican is the (craftsman) of a common destiny, marked by the results of the next election. To one degree or another, we will all be responsible for the quality of this electoral process and, whether we know it or not, the opportunities that lay before us.”

Oct. 5 : Former President Rafael Angel Calderón is convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $500,000. Calderón, running for a second term under the Social Christian Unity Party, withdraws from the race the same day.

Oct. 17 : Luis Fishman, president of the Social Christian Unity Party (Unidad), is selected to replace Calderón as presidential candidate for Unidad. The 61-year-old has served as a legislator, government minister, security chief and vice president.

Jan. 15, 2010: Rolando Araya and Walter Muñoz, presidential candidates for the Patriotic Alliance and the National Integration Party, respectively, fold their campaigns into the PAC, forming a coalition of left-leaning candidates and backing Ottón Solís as their official candidate.

Jan. 30-31: Official closure of campaigns with candidates delivering their final messages before the elections.

Feb. 7: Election Day.