Laura Fernandez leads early results in Costa Rica’s presidential election | Elections News
In Costa Rica’s presidential election, early results show a significant lead for right-wing candidate Laura Fernandez from the governing Sovereign People Party (PPSO), who secured 53.01% of votes from 31% of polling stations counted. Fernandez, 39, is the chosen successor of incumbent President Rodrigo Chaves, campaigning on a platform focused on stringent security measures amid rising crime rates in the country.
Her closest rival, Alvaro Ramos from the center-left National Liberation Party, garnered 30.05%, while former First Lady Claudia Dobles trailed with only 3.9%. For Fernandez to win outright, she must achieve a minimum of 40% of the vote to avoid a runoff election scheduled for April 5. The heightened crime rates in Costa Rica have heavily influenced voter sentiment; many Costa Ricans attribute the current surge in violence to the perceived ineffectiveness of Chaves’s presidency.
Fernandez’s political background includes serving as Chaves’s minister of national planning and economic policy and later as the minister of the presidency, equipping her with significant experience in governance. As Costa Ricans cast their ballots for the presidency, they also voted for the 57-seat National Assembly. The governing PPSO is expected to gain seats but may not secure the supermajority that would enable them to unilaterally appoint Supreme Court magistrates.
Overall, among a field of twenty presidential candidates, the preliminary results indicated a clear division, with no other candidates aside from Fernandez and Ramos surpassing 5% of the vote, highlighting a concentrated electoral choice for the voters.
