Abstract

PEDROZA, Luicy. The Limits of Political Participation in an Exceptional Democracy: Migrants in Costa Rica. Migr. Inter [online]. 2020, vol.11, e1740.  Epub Feb 17, 2021. ISSN 2594-0279.  https://doi.org/10.33679/rmi.v1i1.1740.

In comparison to other countries in the Latin American region, especially in Central America, support for democracy in Costa Rica is high –despite ups and downs in recent years. Still, regarding the challenges that immigration poses for the principles of democratic inclusion and representation, Costa Rica lag behind 11 countries in Latin America –and 35 democracies in the world– where immigrant residents have the right to vote in local elections. In Chile and Uruguay, the only countries in the region where support for democracy tops that observed in Costa Rica, the right to vote of immigrant residents even reaches national elections. With such a comparative background, this article addresses the question: how to explain that this democracy ignores the tendency to give the right to vote to resident migrants? The study reveals a society in which the narrative of exceptionality with respect to other countries of the continent and the formal primacy of nationality to political citizenship, allow tolerating a clear inequality between the political rights of emigrants and immigrants.

Keywords : franchise; vote; migrants; Costa Rica; Latin America.

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