Turnout: 69.22%
The general election of 1 February 2026 resulted in a first-round victory for Laura Fernández (Pueblo Soberano, PPSO) with 48.53%, surpassing the 40% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Her party also won 31 of 57 Legislative Assembly seats, the first single-party absolute majority since 1990. Álvaro Ramos (PLN) finished second with 33.65% and Claudia Dobles (Citizens’ Agenda Coalition) third with 4.91%. Turnout was 69.22%.
Candidates — profiles
Economist and social activist, born 1980. Founder of the Pueblo Soberano movement, she ran on fighting corruption, reducing the cost of living and reforming the state. Her first-round victory marked the breakthrough of a party with no prior legislative presence.
Civil engineer and businessman, candidate of the National Liberation Party — Costa Rica’s oldest traditional party, founded in 1951 by José Figueres Ferrer. Ramos proposed foreign-policy continuity and moderate fiscal reforms to reduce the deficit.
Architect and former Minister of Housing (2018–2022). The centre-left coalition’s candidate focused her platform on sustainability, affordable housing and women’s rights.
Frequently asked questions
The president is elected by direct vote for a four-year term. To win in the first round, a candidate must exceed 40% of valid votes. If no one reaches that threshold, the top two candidates face a runoff. Laura Fernández received 48.53%, so no second round was needed.
The Legislative Assembly is Costa Rica’s unicameral parliament, with 57 deputies elected by proportional representation across seven multi-member constituencies, simultaneously with the president. Each constituency corresponds to one province. PPSO won 31 seats — an absolute majority (threshold: 29).
Not immediately. The Costa Rican constitution prohibits immediate re-election: a former president must wait at least one full term (four years) before running again. This rule was reinstated by the Constitutional Court in 2003, reversing an earlier reform that had removed it.
Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 (Art. 12 of the Constitution) and is considered Central America’s most stable and long-standing democracy. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) is an independent branch of government that organises elections and certifies results with full autonomy from the executive and legislature.
Pueblo Soberano held no seats in the Legislative Assembly before the 2026 elections. Winning 31 of 57 seats — an absolute majority — in its first electoral contest is unprecedented in modern Costa Rican history. It represents the largest collapse of the traditional PLN–PUSC two-party system since the founding of the republic.
Rodrigo Chaves governed from 2022 to 2026 and remained popular despite rising gang violence and corruption allegations against his administration. Costa Rica bars immediate re-election, so he could not stand again. Laura Fernández's Pueblo Soberano is widely seen as the political vehicle of his movement, and her victory was read in large part as an endorsement of the outgoing president's combative, anti-establishment style.
The dominant themes were a sharp rise in drug-related gang violence, which had pushed Costa Rica's homicide rate to record highs, alongside the cost of living, corruption, and the reform of a state many voters saw as sluggish. Fernández campaigned on security, lower living costs and shaking up the political establishment, themes that resonated against the backdrop of the traditional parties' long dominance.
Pueblo Soberano won 31 of the 57 seats with about 45% of the legislative vote, ahead of the National Liberation Party (PLN) on 17, the left-wing Broad Front (Frente Amplio) on 7, and the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) and the Citizens' Agenda Coalition on one each. The near-elimination of the once-dominant PUSC underlined how far Costa Rica's old two-party order has fragmented.
Laura Fernández takes office in May 2026 with something Costa Rican presidents have lacked for decades: a single-party absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly. That gives her unusual room to pass legislation, but also full ownership of results on the issues — security, the cost of living and corruption — that defined the campaign. She is constitutionally limited to a single consecutive term.