Costa Rica elects populist conservative Laura Fernández as president : NPR

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 convincing 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 Individuals’s Celebration had 48.3% of the vote. Her closest challenger was economist Álvaro Ramos of the Nationwide Liberation Celebration with 33.4%.

Ramos conceded Sunday evening and pledged to guide a “constructive opposition,” however one that will 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 rely scheduled to start Tuesday.

“In democracy dissent is allowed, criticizing is allowed,” he mentioned.

On Monday, Fernández mentioned that her best need as the subsequent president is to consolidate Costa Rica’s improvement to have the ability to higher face world challenges and to supply strong financial progress.

“I hope that we will instantly decrease the flags of whichever political occasion and begin working solely in favor of the Costa Rican flag,” Fernández mentioned. “I imagine the Costa Rican individuals anticipate nothing much less of us.”

Not 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 lately was a serious problem within the marketing campaign. Some voters faulted Chaves’ presidency for failing to convey these charges down, however many see a continuation of his confrontational model as the perfect probability for Costa Rica to tame the violence.

Fernández was beforehand Chaves’ minister of nationwide planning and financial coverage and, extra not too long ago, his minister of the presidency.

She was thought-about the frontrunner headed into Sunday’s election.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Fernández in an announcement Monday. “Beneath her management, we’re assured Costa Rica will proceed to advance shared priorities to incorporate combatting narco-trafficking, ending unlawful immigration to the US, selling cybersecurity and safe telecommunications, and strengthening financial ties,” Rubio mentioned.

Costa Ricans additionally voted for the 57-seat Nationwide Meeting. Chaves’ occasion was anticipated to make good points, however maybe not obtain the supermajority he and Fernández referred to as for, which might permit their occasion to decide on Supreme Courtroom magistrates, for instance.

Twenty contenders have been in search of 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, although 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 price range deficit.