Costa Rica - Election 2022
Costa Rica is a constitutional republic governed by a president and a unicameral legislative assembly directly elected in multiparty elections every four years. In 2018 voters elected Carlos Alvarado of the Citizen’s Action Party as president during a second round of elections. All elections were considered free and fair.
Costa Rica held elections on 06 February 2022, with a possible second round on 3 April between the two presidential candidates with the most votes. Costa Rica was nonetheless grappling with a growing economic crisis and the ruling Citizen’s Action Party (PAC) was set for a bruising defeat. The PAC candidate, former economy minister Welmer Ramos, seemed to be paying the price for sky-high anti-government feeling, polling at just 0.3 percent. The country’s traditional political heavyweights, the centrist National Liberation Party (PLN) and the right-wing Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), could return to the fore after decades of a near political duopoly only recently broken by the PAC.
Among the more than 20 registered candidates, there are well-known names around, such as former centrist president Jose María Figueres, conservative former vice president Lineth Saborio and Fabricio Alvarado, a right-wing evangelical leader who lost to the current president in 2018, Carlos Alvarado. In another sign of popular discontent with shift governments, ruling Citizen Action Party candidate Velmar Ramos intends to vote below the margin of error in some opinion polls.
Costa Rica’s 2018 election saw the surprise rise of Christian singer and National Restoration Party congressman Fabricio Alvarado, who won the first round of the election with a socially conservative platform based around issues like an opposition to same-sex marriage. In the end, he lost the runoff to Citizens’ Action Party’s Carlos Alvarado in an election that saw a reshaping of Costa Rica’s traditional party system.
Fabricio Alvarado was back amid a field of 25 candidates seeking to replace the president, given that consecutive reelection was not allowed. But his victory was far from assured; former President José María Figueres (1994-1998) of the National Liberation Party was currently polling in first at 19 percent. No other candidate has risen above 10 percent, but other strong contenders include former Vice President Lineth Saborío and progressive environmentalist José María Villalta.
Costa Ricans voted for a new president in elections that had yet to see a clear favorite emerge among the 25 candidates and were held amid fears of a low turnout because of a surge in COVID-19 cases. Costa Ricans also chose a new National Assembly in the elections, which took place days after the country’s top prosecutor filed papers seeking to lift outgoing President Carlos Alvarado’s immunity so he can face charges related to the collection of personal information on citizens. He was not eligible to run again.
According to one poll published just before the election, former President Jose Maria Figueres (1994-1998) of the PLN led the race with just over 17 percent of stated support, followed by the PUSC’s Lineth Saborio on just under 13 percent. Polls show evangelical Christian singer Fabricio Alvarado Munoz of the right-wing New Republic Party (PNR) in the third spot with just over 10 percent. He commanded support from the evangelical community, which makes up about 20 percent of Costa Rica’s five million people. In fourth place was economist Rodrigo Chaves of the newly-formed centrist Social Democratic Progress Party. The highest-polling left-wing candidate was Jose Maria Villalta of the Broad Front.
Anti-establishment economist Rodrigo Chaves won Costa Rica's presidency on 03 April 2022 as voters in the Central American country rejected traditional politics amid growing social discontent and concerns over the national debt. Chaves, a longtime former World Bank official, was projected to win about 52.9% of the vote, according to the electoral tribunal's preliminary partial tally of the run-off ballot.
According to the results of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), with 95.93 percent of the polling stations processed, Chaves obtained 999,382 (equivalent to 52.86 percent), while Figueres obtained 891,403 votes (47.14 percentage points). For the election day participation reached 57.33 percent and abstention 42.86 percent. In addition, 1,890,785 valid votes are reported, as well as 50,014 between null and blank votes, this gives 1,940,799 votes received.
Rival candidate and former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres was seen securing 47.1%, the tally showed. Figueres quickly conceded defeat after results were announced. "I congratulate Rodrigo Chaves, and I wish him the best," Figueres told supporters in San Jose. Figueres, whose father was also president for three separate terms, campaigned on his experience and family political legacy. He has promised to lift economic growth and boost green industries in the environmentally progressive nation.
Polls showed Chaves with a slight edge over Figueres ahead of the vote. Chaves, who also briefly served as finance minister for outgoing President Carlos Alvarado, was second in a first-round vote in February. Seen as a maverick, Chaves has vowed to shake up the ranks of the political elite, even pledging to use referendums to bypass Congress to bring change. "If the people go out to vote, this is going to be a sweep, a tsunami," Chaves said after casting his ballot.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Costa Rica announced the closing of the polling stations, after the election day where citizens decide the new president for the period 2022-2026. The authorities of the TSE emphasized that the day was carried out calmly and there were no setbacks, "the only thing that occurred was the unfortunate death of a citizen after casting his vote", added the president of the TSE, Eugenia Zamora.
This ballot is part of the eighteenth presidential and legislative elections organized by Costa Rica since the Political Constitution of 1949 came into force, which enables every citizen over 18 years of age to vote. The winner of these elections will take office next May 8 to face challenges such as the fight against corruption or the approval of a millionaire debt with the International Monetary Fund.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
