Costa Rica elects second female president
Conservative candidate Laura Fernandez of the ruling Sovereign People’s Party (PPSO) has won Costa Rica’s presidential election, securing nearly half of the votes in the first round and avoiding a runoff, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
Her closest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos of the National Liberation Party, conceded defeat following preliminary results showing Fernandez with a commanding lead.
With more than 88% of polling stations counted, Fernandez had obtained 48.9% of the vote, surpassing the 40% threshold required for an outright victory. Fernandez, 39, served as chief of staff to outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, who endorsed her candidacy. She campaigned on continuing Chaves’s strict security measures amid rising crime, promising “deep and irreversible change” and a new political era she calls the “third republic.”
In her victory speech in San Jose, Fernandez pledged to strengthen the rule of law and reform laws seen as outdated or obstructive. She also vowed to complete a high-security prison initiated by Chaves, aimed at isolating organized crime leaders, and implement stricter sentencing alongside mandatory prison labor.
Fernandez’s party is projected to win 30 seats in the 57-seat National Assembly, up from 8, giving her a solid legislative base, though not a supermajority.
Some 3.7 million Costa Ricans were eligible to vote in the election, which featured a crowded field of 20 candidates.
Fernandez is set to be sworn in on May 8, becoming Costa Rica’s second female president.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Jose Antonio Kast of the Republican Party won Chile’s presidential election in a runoff.
