By Alexander Villegas and Alvaro Murillo
SAN JOSE, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Right-wing populist Laura Fernandez won a commanding victory in Costa Rica’s general elections on Sunday, while her ruling party is set to gain a majority in Congress.
Fernandez has nearly half of the votes with 88.43% of ballots counted. Fernandez was leading in opinion polls before Sunday’s election and only needed 40% of the vote to win outright and avoid an April 5 runoff.
A protege and former chief of staff of outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, Fernandez has pledged to continue his tough security policies, populist proposals and anti‑establishment message. While consecutive reelection is not allowed in Costa Rica, Fernandez has vowed to include Chaves in her government.
“Change will be deep and irreversible,” Fernandez said during her victory speech, announcing Costa Rica was entering a new political era. The Central American nation’s second republic, which began after the 1948 civil war, “is a thing of the past,” she said.
“It’s up to us to build the third republic,” Fernandez told flag-waving supporters in San Jose. At the Hispanidad Fountain, a popular national celebration point for sporting or political events, Fernandez supporters gathered by car and on foot, waving flags and stuffed jaguars, a symbol adopted by Fernandez’s party.
Alvaro Ramos, a centrist economist and her closest contender, secured about one-third of the vote, while Claudia Dobles, a progressive architect and former first lady, was just shy of 5% of the vote.
“We need to keep fighting, that’s our job, that’s our commitment,” Ramos said during his concession speech, adding that he’d support Fernandez in decisions that benefitted the country, but oppose her when they don’t.
“We’ll keep calling for the country’s unity and to heal a wounded country,” Ramos said.
Fernandez’s party, the Sovereign People’s Party, is projected to win a majority of 30 seats in the 57-seat Congress, up from its current eight seats, but short of a “supermajority” that would give it greater powers.
Earlier on Sunday, parks and plazas near voting centers around the country were filled with flag-waving supporters and election observers as voting got underway.
In Esparza, a small town in the coastal province of Puntarenas where Fernandez was born, the cyan-colored flags of her party outnumber those of other parties and candidates.
Ricardo Mora, 59, grew up in Esparza and said he and his 11 siblings supported the centrist Ramos’ National Liberation Party (PLN) most of their lives, but all but two of them now backed Fernandez because they were fed up with corruption scandals and bad governance.
“They say whoever leans against the best tree gets the best shade, and she’s in the president’s shadow,” Mora said, adding that he hopes for a second Chaves presidency after Fernandez.
CRIME TOPS VOTER CONCERNS ACROSS THE REGION
Polls showed the largest concern among the country’s 3.7 million voters was rising crime.
Homicides surged to an all-time high during Chaves’ term yet he remains deeply popular, with a 58% approval rating according to University of Costa Rica’s CIEP polling.
Gabriela Segura, a 25-year-old business administrator, said one of her biggest concerns in this election was rising crime, but she also wanted a candidate that would protect the country’s public health system.
“You can see the rise in murders, in femicides, as a woman I’m afraid to go out on the street, a lot more than before,” Segura said.
Fernandez’s victory mirrors recent electoral wins by right-wing candidates across Latin America including in Chile, Ecuador and Honduras.
“Costa Rica, like the rest of the region, wanted that strong discourse when it comes to security and Fernandez had that rhetoric,” said Maria Fernanda Bozmoski, the director for Central America at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based international affairs think tank.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas and Alvaro Murillo; Editing by Diane Craft, Chizu Nomiyama, Michael Perry and Lincoln Feast.)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.