Costa Rica elects hardliner Laura Fernández in a first-round security landslide

Summary

Costa Rica elected Laura Fernández Delgado of the Sovereign People's Party (PPSO) president on 1 February 2026, taking 48.53% and clearing the 40% single-round threshold against Álvaro Ramos Chaves (PLN) and 18 others (Who Decides). She is the country's second woman president and takes office 8 May as its 50th. The PPSO also won an Assembly majority, 31 of the seats, against PLN's 17, the first single-party majority since 1990. Public security drove the campaign: Fernández ran hard-line amid a sharp rise in homicides tied to cocaine trafficking and organised crime (How Life Changes). Turnout was 69.22%, up 9.25 points on 2022. The result institutionalises the populist project of outgoing president Rodrigo Chaves.

By the numbers

• 48.53%, Fernández's first-round share, above the 40% win threshold.
• 31 of seats, PPSO's Legislative Assembly majority, first single-party majority since 1990.
• 69.22%, turnout, up 9.25 points on the 2022 first round.
• 8 May 2026, date Fernández takes office as 50th president.
• 2nd, woman to be elected president of Costa Rica.

Why it matters

A hard-line security mandate plus a rare one-party legislative majority concentrates power in a historically consensual democracy, in a Central American state once seen as a stability anchor now strained by trafficking violence. It signals the regional drift toward security-first populism.

What to watch

• The 8 May handover and Fernández's first security and judicial moves.
• How a single-party majority reshapes Costa Rica's institutional checks.
• Homicide and trafficking trends against the hard-line platform.