Mano Dura Comes to Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s surge in violent crime should have been a liability for President Rodrigo Chaves’s right-wing party. Instead, his handpicked successor, Laura Fernández, won resoundingly by promising law-and-order policy unencumbered by democratic institutions.
Worries over security reigned supreme in Costa Rica’s elections, a factor that usually punishes incumbents. Yet violent crime served to bolster the president’s victorious handpicked successor, who blamed the country’s “captured” institutions. (Manuel Arnoldo Robert Batalla / Getty Images)
On Sunday, February 1, Costa Ricans went to the polls to elect a new president and fifty-seven members of congress. The election, which was framed as a referendum on the outgoing administration of Rodrigo Chaves, delivered a resounding victory to his chosen successor, Laura Fernández, who secured over 48 percent of the vote.
The campaign was unusually contentious, in part the product of a massive slate of candidates. Leading the pack was Fernández, a member of the Sovereign People Party (PPSO) and former minister of the presidency. On the other side was a highly fragmented field of twenty presidential hopefuls, including the right-of-center National Liberation Party (PLN), the Citizen Agenda Coalition (CAC), and the democratic left Broad Front Party (FAP). These candidates broadly constituted the opposition and trailed the PPSO in vote intention by a significant margin.
The campaign defied a series of Costa Rican norms. Chaves contravened electoral law by playing an active role in the campaign, evangelical churches allegedly made a massive effort to mobilize support for Fernández, and several opposition candidates faced ongoing legal issues. The crucial backdrop was a recent spike in violence that played into voters’ concerns over insecurity and led to allegations that drug-trafficking money had penetrated various campaigns.
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