Conservative economist Rodrigo Chaves, former minister of the area, was elected president of Costa Rica in the second round of elections in the Central American country, held this Sunday (3).
According to the Supreme Electoral Court, Chaves, from the Social Democratic Progress Party, won 52.8% of the votes, while former president José Maria Figueres, from the National Liberation Party, won 47.1%. More than 95% of the votes were counted.
Voting is mandatory in the country, and court figures reveal that participation was only 57.2% of the population eligible to vote.
Figueres has already publicly acknowledged his opponent’s victory. “The country voted, and the people spoke,” he said, who also wished Chaves luck. “As Democrats that we are, we will always respect that decision.”
The president-elect will face as his main challenge a serious economic crisis that affects one of the most stable democracies in Latin America. Poverty affects 23% of the country’s inhabitants, which suffered one of the biggest declines in employment in the region between 2019 and 2020, along with Peru, according to ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean). The national debt is equivalent to 70% of Costa Rica’s GDP.
Informality affects 44% of the workforce and, although low by regional standards, is considered serious by many voters.
Both candidates ensured that the economic agenda was a priority on their agendas. But they presented few proposals and spent much of the campaign trying to get rid of accusations — Figueres for corruption and Chaves for sexual harassment.
The 60-year-old economist worked for more than three decades at the World Bank and was also finance minister in the current Carlos Alvarado government, between 2019 and 2020.
Chaves received a sanction for sexual harassment of two subordinates at the World Bank. He assures that the events, which took place between 2008 and 2013, were “jokes” and “misinterpreted due to cultural differences”.
The first round of elections, marked by a record of fragmented candidacies, was held on February 6 and ended with Figueres in the lead. He got just over 27% of the votes, while Chaves got 16.7%.
