Right-wing candidate’s closest challenger concedes defeat as partial results showed her on verge of winning the presidency.
Published On 2 Feb 2026
Right-wing candidate Laura Fernandez has declared victory in Costa Rica’s presidential election after preliminary results gave her a commanding lead and her closest challenger conceded defeat.
The move early on Monday came after Supreme Electoral Tribunal said that votes tallied from 81 percent of polling stations showed the candidate of the Sovereign People’s Party winning 48.9 percent of the vote.
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In her victory speech, Fernandez promised “deep and irreversible change” and announced that Costa Rica was entering a new political era.
The Central American nation’s second republic, which began after the 1948 civil war, “is a thing of the past,” she said.
“It’s up to us to build the third republic,” Fernandez told flag-waving supporters.
The 39-year-old politician also pledged to lead a nation that is “respectful and firm on the rule of law”.
“Any law that is ineffective, that has become obsolete, that has become a hindrance to development, will be modified or repealed,” she added.
Fernandez’s closest challenger was economist Alvaro Ramos of the National Liberation Party, who obtained