Home > 2.1.3 Jurisdictions > COSTA RICA - Electoral Act
 
 
 
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ARTICLE 137
 

Activities in public places


Demonstrations, processions or other activities in public highways, plazas, parks or other public sites must have the permission of the corresponding authorities and, with effect from the election call, that of the TSE also and must be in accordance with the following stipulations:


a) Applications for permits must be submitted in writing and must comply with the other formalities regulated by the Tribunal.


b) The department or official designated by the TSE shall be responsible for issuing permits for meetings and shall issue permits with strict rotation of registered parties and in the order they are requested. To this end, they shall determine the order in which political parties may meet in a locality.


c) The respective department or official shall record in the application time and date of its submission. They shall exhibit a copy of issued permits in their office and a written plan for the successive occupation of the locations. Another perfectly legible copy of the same plan shall be delivered to the chairman of the local executive committee of each party. 


d) Political parties may not hold meetings or rallies in public areas, in the same electoral district and on the same day. Nor can they be held from the 16th of December to the 1st of January immediately prior to the polling date, both dates inclusive, or in the six days immediately prior to the polling day inclusive.


e) Similarly, meetings cannot be held in bridges, public highway intersections or in front of places of religious worship, fire stations or Red Cross offices or at less than two hundred meters from hospitals or police stations or educational centers whose normal operations may be adversely affected.


f) The authorities shall remove any person or group disrupting or attempting to disrupt a political meeting or demonstration. Clubs of other parties located near to the site, where another political party is holding its public demonstrations or meetings shall remain closed for twentyfour hours.


g) Physical places belonging to the State and to municipal governments of the country may be provided to political parties to hold their activities and assemblies at any time, provided that prior notification is given to the TSE and that the political parties guarantee compliance with regulations governing safety, health, public order, propriety and respect for public morals.