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On Sunday, Laura Fernández, the conservative candidate for the Pueblo Soberano party, won the presidential election in the first round. In Costa Rica, only 40 percent of votes are needed to win in the first round, yet she raked in 48 percent — the first time a candidate broke the threshold in two decades, but by an even greater margin.
It was an ironclad show of support for the Rodrigo Chaves administration. Fernández, a former minister in the outgoing government, claims to be Chaves’ “heir.” Her chief opponent, Álvaro Ramos of the National Liberation Party, the country’s most established traditional party, received just 33 percent.
The president-elect had also called on voters to give her a 40-deputy qualified majority in the Legislative Assembly, to allow her to amend the constitution, name constitutional magistrates, and more. Fernández and Chaves say Costa Rica should follow in Nayib Bukele’s footsteps, reshaping the judiciary to fight drug trafficking-fueled violence.
Instead, Fernández’s party received a simple majority with 30 seats out of 57, still nothing to frown at. Costa Rican political scientist Ilka Treminio called it “a resounding victory,” noting that the last three presidents —including Chaves— governed with around 10.
The opposition was left rudderless. In a field of 20 candidates, it was “a surprise that [second-place candidate] Álvaro Ramos showed such strength for such a discredited party,” she added. In January, University of Costa Rica polling had placed Ramos with just 17 percent of intended votes.
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Voting took place largely without incident. A picture of bags of ballots in a truck with Fernández campaign pamphlets circulated on social media, but the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said the chain of custody was not tampered with. A gleeful Chaves called an opposition supporter an “idiot” and dismissed another as a “viejilla,” or “old lady.” At one point, he made antlers out of his hands.
Chaves will stay close to power. He publicly congratulated Fernández on her victory, urging her to “continue working for a prosperous private sector that has property rights.” On Monday, President-elect Fernández offered Chaves the post of Minister of the Presidency, a chief operative overseeing work with her cabinet and the legislature. It was the same post she held in his government.
“A mouthpiece for discontent”
The elections were held in “an atmosphere of very high popularity for Rodrigo Chaves,” says Treminio. Fernández was not the candidate of Chaves’ party, Social Democratic Progress, but the new president “received resounding, visible, and explicit support from the government. She is the candidate of continuity.”
Chaves surrogates were a fixture of her campaign. Last week, she gave an interview to Pilar Cisneros, a former journalist and leading legislator of the ruling party.
Chaves, who won the presidency on promises to “Make Costa Rica Prosperous Again,” has increased his political capital since 2022, when he came in second place in the first round of voting with 17 percent of the vote. This time around, first-round voter abstention fell by 10 percent compared to the last election.
More significantly, he staved off dozens of probes, including for alleged illicit campaign finance, as well as allegations of sexual harassment. Last year, as he faced mounting corruption scandals, the Supreme Court requested that legislators strip him of immunity in an unprecedented probe against a sitting president, but the Assembly declined.
He is best known for his bellicose stance toward checks and balances and the press. Costa Rican political analyst Eduardo Núñez describes him as “a mouthpiece for social discontent in a significant part of Costa Rican society.“
Núñez says the discontent stems from deteriorating health, education, and security since the pandemic. In 2025, Costa Rica suffered near-record homicides. Núñez highlights Chaves’ ability to project that social anger onto the old party model and political system.
Despite prohibitions on presidents stumping for candidates, Chaves was an active promoter of Fernández, bringing her on his trips around the country and calling for the vote. Because of this, “he was on the verge of losing his immunity less than two months ago,” says Núñez.
Playing the prison card
Looming large over this election season is Nayib Bukele. The Chaves administration is his main ally in Central America and has applauded his state of exception. Two weeks before the election, Bukele attended the groundbreaking of CACCO, a new megaprison in Costa Rica modeled after his signature CECOT.
Amid mounting tensions, the electoral tribunal didn’t stand in the way of Bukele's visit despite claims that it could tip support toward Fernández. “There was no direct reference from Bukele asking for votes, but there was a congratulation and a kind of support for the government’s policies,” says Treminio.
Chaves has kept private the content of his meetings with Bukele. Days earlier, the administration reported that prosecutors are investigating evidence of an assassination plot against him.
Treminio also points out that part of Laura Fernández’s platform is “to invoke a state of exception in Costa Rica,” and concludes that “Bukele's presence creates an environment conducive to promoting this type of discourse.” Bukele posted on X that he had congratulated the president-elect by telephone.
According to Treminio, “Laura has managed to nurture her style from both Rodrigo Chaves and Pilar Cisneros.” She claims she personally vetted all 57 of her party’s legislative candidates, calling them “beyond reproach.”
11 of these candidates are former members of Chaves’ cabinet and are under investigation —together with Fernández and her vice president, former Chaves economy minister Francisco Gamboa— in 59 criminal probes for alleged administrative crimes. Chaves and his circle have repeatedly denounced these as political persecution.
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Fernández says she will keep close ties to the Donald Trump administration. In her first remarks as president-elect, she announced that they will “conduct comparative analyses of El Salvador's experience recovering its society from organized crime.”
Her country will “take what has worked well [in El Salvador] and bring it to Costa Rica,” she told reporters. ”That is what you can expect from me.”
This article first appeared in El Faro English's February 3 newsletter. Subscribe here.