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Proper-wing candidate from the governing PPSO leads presidential race with 53.01 % of the vote, early outcomes present.
Printed On 2 Feb 2026
The suitable-wing law-and-order candidate, Laura Fernandez, has taken a commanding lead in Costa Rica’s presidential election, in response to early outcomes.
With ballots from 31 % of polling stations counted late on Sunday, Fernandez, of the governing Sovereign Folks Celebration (PPSO), had 53.01 % of the vote, the outcomes confirmed.
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Alvaro Ramos of the centre-left Nationwide Liberation Celebration was in second place with 30.05 %, whereas former First Girl Claudia Dobles was in third place with 3.9 %.
Fernandez wants at least 40 % to win the election outright and keep away from a run-off on April 5.
The 39-year-old politician is the handpicked successor of incumbent President Rodrigo Chaves, and campaigned on persevering with his powerful safety insurance policies.
The traditionally peaceable Central American nation’s crime surge in recent times may very well be a deciding issue for a lot of voters. Some fault Chaves’s presidency for failing to carry the charges down, however many see his confrontational type as the most effective probability for Costa Rica to tame the violence.
Fernandez was beforehand Chaves’s minister of nationwide planning and financial coverage and, extra just lately, his minister of the presidency.
Costa Ricans additionally voted for the 57-seat Nationwide Meeting. Chaves’s social gathering is anticipated to make beneficial properties, however maybe not obtain the supermajority he and Fernandez have known as for, which might permit their social gathering to decide on Supreme Courtroom magistrates, for instance.
Twenty contenders had been searching for the presidency, however no candidate aside from Fernandez and Ramos reached 5 % within the preliminary and partial outcomes.
