Costa Rica elects center-right economist Rodrigo Chaves as president

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Costa Ricans on Sunday elected economist Rodrigo Chaves Robles as the 49th president in the country’s history. The politician had focused his campaign on the promise of “change” and a head-on fight against corruption.

Chaves, of the young Social Democratic Progressive Party (center right), received 52.9% of the vote, defeating former president (1994-1998) and National Liberation Party (PLN) candidate José María Figueres, who received 47.1% of the vote. The abstention rate was 42.8%.

The president-elect affirmed that he received the result of today’s elections with “humility” and with an “enormous responsibility full of challenges and difficulties that we will all solve.”

The economist thanked the Costa Rican people for having “celebrated a democratic day that makes us shine before the world, we are one of the best democracies in the world.”

The president-elect will face the great challenge of governing with only 10 of the total 57 members of the legislature.

The new president will be forced to negotiate with the other five parties represented in Congress, especially Figueres’ PLN, which has the largest caucus with 19 deputies.

Chaves will take office on May 8 for a four-year term. He replaces Carlos Alvarado of the center-left Civic Action party, who served as finance minister for six months between 2019 and 2020.

President Alvarado said he called the president-elect “to offer him my congratulations, to ensure an orderly transition, and to convey my best wishes for the tasks he will carry out as the 49th president of Costa Rica.

“I congratulate Costa Rica on its new democratic path,” President Alvarado said.

Chaves, an economist by profession, has proposed reducing the size of the state, lowering social contributions, and dismantling barriers to investment and entrepreneurship, but his message focused on a promise to fight corruption head-on, for which he blames traditional parties such as the Party of National Liberation (PLN), to which his rival belongs.

The economist served as finance minister for six months between 2019 and 2020 and previously held several posts at the World Bank, where he received an internal sanction in 2019 after being accused of sexual harassment by several female colleagues.

The 60-year-old Chaves focused his political campaign on criticizing the “same old same old” and traditional parties like that of his rival, which he accused of corruption.

The economist and married father of two promised during the campaign to work to make Costa Rica the “happiest country in the world,” fight corruption, and govern for the poorest sectors of the population.

“Now it’s up to us to live up to our responsibilities. It is not acceptable to abandon Costa Rica. Costa Rica needs all of us,” Chaves said.

With information from EFE

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