Presidential candidate Laura Fernández addresses supporters after polls closed in San José, Costa Rica, Sunday.
Carlos Borbon/AP
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Carlos Borbon/AP
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Conservative populist Laura Fernández gained Costa Rica’s presidency, promising to proceed the aggressive reorienting of the Central American nation’s politics began by her political sponsor, outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves.
Preliminary and partial outcomes confirmed the Costa Rican president’s handpicked successor captured the win with a powerful first-round victory, eliminating the necessity for a runoff in a crowded discipline after Sunday’s election.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal reported that with votes from 96.8% of polling locations tallied, Fernández of the Sovereign Folks’s Occasion had 48.3% of the vote. Her closest challenger was economist Álvaro Ramos of the Nationwide Liberation Occasion with 33.4%.
Ramos conceded Sunday night time and pledged to steer a “constructive opposition,” however one that may not let these in energy get away with something. Fernández is not going to be formally declared the winner till electoral officers full a handbook depend scheduled to start Tuesday.
“In democracy dissent is allowed, criticizing is allowed,” he stated.
On Monday, Fernández stated that her biggest want as the subsequent president is to consolidate Costa Rica’s growth to have the ability to higher face international challenges and to supply strong financial progress.
“I hope that we can immediately lower the flags of whichever political party and start working only in favor of the Costa Rican flag,” Fernández stated. “I believe the Costa Rican people expect nothing less of us.”
No less than 40% of the entire vote was required to win the presidential election within the first spherical.
Fernández campaigned on persevering with the insurance policies of the term-limited Chaves.
The traditionally peaceable Central American nation’s crime surge in recent times was a significant concern within the marketing campaign. Some voters faulted Chaves’ presidency for failing to deliver these charges down, however many see a continuation of his confrontational fashion as the perfect probability for Costa Rica to tame the violence.
Fernández was beforehand Chaves’ minister of nationwide planning and financial coverage and, extra just lately, his minister of the presidency.
She was thought of the frontrunner headed into Sunday’s election.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Fernández in an announcement Monday. “Under her leadership, we are confident Costa Rica will continue to advance shared priorities to include combatting narco-trafficking, ending illegal immigration to the United States, promoting cybersecurity and secure telecommunications, and strengthening economic ties,” Rubio stated.
Costa Ricans additionally voted for the 57-seat Nationwide Meeting. Chaves’ celebration was anticipated to make good points, however maybe not obtain the supermajority he and Fernández known as for, which might permit their celebration to decide on Supreme Court docket magistrates, for instance.
Twenty contenders have been looking for the presidency, however no candidate aside from Fernández and Ramos reached 5% within the preliminary and partial outcomes.
Some 3.7 million Costa Ricans have been eligible to vote.
4 years in the past, Chaves ran an outsider marketing campaign that carried him to victory over the nation’s conventional events, even if he had briefly served as financial system minister in a earlier administration. His framing of conventional events as corrupt and self-interested resonated in a rustic with excessive unemployment and a hovering finances deficit.
