General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 2022, to elect the president, two vice-presidents, and all 57 deputies of the Legislative Assembly. As none of the presidential nominees obtained at least 40% of the votes, a runoff was held on 3 April 2022, between the top two candidates, José María Figueres and Rodrigo Chaves Robles.
Rodrigo Chaves Robles of the Social Democratic Progress Party, a former official of the World Bank and former Minister of Finance with an anti-establishment reputation, received 53% of the vote in the run-off ballot and was declared president-elect by the Electoral Tribunal. Rival candidate and former president José Maria Figueres of the National Liberation Party received 47% of the vote and conceded defeat.
Electoral system The President of Costa Rica is elected using a modified two-round system in which a candidate must receive at least 40% of the vote to win in the first round; if no candidate wins in the first round, a runoff is held between the two candidates with most votes.Costa Rica IFES
The 57 members of the Legislative Assembly are elected using closed list proportional representation through the largest remainder method from seven multi-member constituencies with between four and 19 seats, which are based on the seven provinces.Electoral system IPU Party lists were required to alternate between male and female candidates, with parties also required to have three or four of their seven regional lists headed by a female candidate.Gender equality ruling aims for nearly 50/50 male-female Costa Rican legislature Tico Times, May 27, 2016
Background In the previous election, a second electoral round was held, as neither political party had obtained 40% of the vote. This was only the third time in history that a second round had been held. The two candidates with the most support were the then-deputy, journalist, preacher, and Christian music singer Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz of the conservative National Restoration party, and the former Minister of Labor, journalist and writer Carlos Alvarado Quesada of the ruling Citizens' Action. The election was marked by social and religious issues that included issues such as same-sex marriage, the secular state, and sex education. Carlos Alvarado was the winner in the second round by a wide margin.
The Constitution of Costa Rica prohibits the incumbent president from serving consecutive terms, making incumbent president Carlos Alvarado Quesada ineligible to run in 2022. Additionally, government ministers and the directors or managers of autonomous institutions must resign twelve months before the election is held if they wish to run for the presidency or vice-presidency.
Candidates Presidential candidates The Supreme Electoral Court approved twenty-five parties and their nominated candidates for the presidency. The ballot printing process started in December 2021, with the candidates shown on the following table.
+2022 Presidential candidatesPartyIdeologyTicketPresident1st Vice President2nd Vice PresidentA Just Costa Rica Christian democracyRolando Araya MongeOrlando Guerrero VargasAna Lupita Mora ChinchillaAccessibility without Exclusion PartyDisabled rightsÓscar López AriasIsabel Ramírez CastroVíctor López JiménezBroad Front Democratic socialismJosé María Villalta Flórez-EstradaPatricia Mora CastellanosGerardo Hernández NaranjoCitizens' Action Party Social democracyWelmer Ramos GonzálezEmilia Molina CruzSebastián Urbina CañasChristian Democratic Alliance ConservatismChristian Rivera PaniaguaJessie Murillo MoyaDavid Alfaro MataCosta Rican Democratic UnionCentrismMaricela Morales MoraBraunio Rosales UreñaAnais Sequeira VegaCosta Rican Social Democratic Movement Social democracyRoulan Jiménez ChavarríaCarmen Pérez RamírezÉdgar Rodríguez RamírezCosta Rican Social Justice Party Social democracyCarmen Quesada SantamaríaWalter Quesada FernándezMaribel Vallejos VallejosProgressive Liberal Party LiberalismEliécer Feinzaig MintzJosé Miguel Aguilar BerrocalRocío Briceño LópezLiberal Union Party PaleolibertarianismFederico Malavassi CalvoLuis Guillermo Lépiz SolanoCohymbra Sáenz CarazoLibertarian Movement Party Libertarian conservatismLuis Alberto Cordero AriasRocío Solís GamboaRoyner Mora RuizNational Encounter Party Agrarian populismÓscar Campos ChavarríaVerónica Esquivel CamposJuan Luis Sáenz RuizNational Force Party PopulismGreivin Moya CarpioNatalia Mora EscalanteAlberto Rodríguez BaldíNational Integration Party Social conservatismWalter Múñoz CéspedesIleana Vargas GonzálezLuis Fernando Astorga GatjensNational Liberation Party Social democracyJosé María FigueresÁlvaro Ramírez BogantesLaura Arguedas MejíaNational Restoration Party ConservatismEduardo Cruickshank SmithXiomara Rodríguez HernándezLeticia Arguedas SolísNew Generation Party ConservatismSergio Mena DíazShirley Díaz MejíasÉdgar Evans MezaNew Republic Party ConservatismFabricio Alvarado MuñozFrancisco Prendas RodríguezAlexandra Loría BeecheOur People Party Christian leftRodolfo Piza RocafortRomán Navarro FallasVanessa Calvo GonzálezSocial Christian Republican Party Christian democracyRodolfo Hernández GómezLorena Solano VillaverdeGiovanni Rodríguez SolísSocial Christian Unity Party Christian democracyLineth Saborío ChaverriFranco Pacheco ArceGabriela de San Román AguilarSocial Democratic Progress Party LiberalismRodrigo Chaves RoblesStephan Brunner NeibigMary Munive AngermüllerUnited People CommunismMartín Chinchilla CastroAndrea Cordero VargasMarco Castillo RojasUnited We Can Classical liberalismNatalia Díaz QuintanaIleana González CorderoJosé Alberto Grillo RosaníaWorkers' Party TrotskyismJhonn Vega MasísJessica Barquero BarrantesGreivis González López
Declined party inscriptions Costa Rican Renewal Party: Nominated Camilo Rodríguez Chaverri for the presidency, but their documentation was incomplete and the party was not allowed to run. Democratic Force: Former Libertarian vice presidential candidate and television presenter Viviam Quesada also announced her presidential candidacy through Democratic Force. The party was the only that submitted the documentation on physical paper printouts, and some of the required documentation was missing so the party was not allowed to run.
Primaries and party conferences Citizens' Action Party
The National Assembly of the Citizen Action Party held face-to-face assemblies, between April and July, to renew its structures in the country's cantons and provinces.
Lawmaker Welmer Ramos was elected in the primaries, winning by a narrow margin over fellow deputy Carolina Hidalgo and former Sports Minister Hernán Solano.
National Liberation Party
The National Liberation Party, the main opposition force, held its primary, known as the National Liberation Convention, on 6 June 2021, electing former President José María Figueres Olsen as a nominee. Political scientist Claudio Alpízar Otoya, former deputy and two-time presidential candidate Rolando Araya Monge, and Carlos Benavides Jiménez and Roberto Thompson Chacón, deputies for the 2018–2022 period, also participated in this process. Rolando Araya Monge quit the National Liberation Party and joined A Just Costa Rica as the presidential candidate.
Social Christian Unity Party
The Social Christian Unity Party held its National Convention on 27 June 2021. Erwen Masís Castro and Pedro Muñoz Fonseca, deputies for the 2018–2022 period, and the former vice president (2002–2006) Lineth Saborío Chaverri, participated in the process, and Saborío was elected as the presidential candidate.
Other parties/coalitions Several former candidates who participated in the process have already announced their interest in being candidates again. Notably, in most cases, these candidates resigned from the parties for which they tried to obtain the presidency and began the processes of founding new political groups.
A Just Costa Rica: Independent deputy Dragos Dolanescu Valenciano announced the creation of a new political formation called A Just Costa Rica after his departure from the Social Christian Republican Party following an accusation lodged by the party authorities against him for corruption. Although he announced that he would be measuring the popular support for a possible candidacy Rolando Araya Monge was selected as the presidential candidate for the party; he finished in second place in the PLN primary. Costa Rican Social Democratic Movement: Physician Roulan Jiménez Chavarría will run for president together with Rubén Vargas, a taxi service representative. Social Democratic Progress: The former Minister of Finance of the Alvarado Quesada administration and former World Bank official, Rodrigo Chaves Robles, has held meetings with different sectors and representatives of seven political parties, including the Republican Social Christian and National Integration parties to propose a programmatic proposal and a possible electoral coalition in which, presumably, he could be the candidate. According to Chaves, "I've told them that, first of all, you cannot talk about a long trip if you do not have a vehicle. Secondly, you can much less talk about the driver of a vehicle that does not exist. But I agree with them that in this country, approximately 60 percent of the voters do not find representation in any of the existing parties or feel the need to support them." Chaves affirmed at the end of February 2021 that there are seven participating parties, three already registered: Republican Social Christian, National Integration (with parliamentary representation) and Social Democratic Progress Party, alongside four in the process of registration: United for Costa Rica, Our Town and the Costa Rican Pacific Union and that they have not defined the candidates for president and vice-presidents. At the end of May, the Republican Social Christian Party and Chaves announced their separation, affirming ideological incompatibilities and breach of agreements, including the candidacy of two-time Republican candidate Rodolfo Hernández for deputy for San José. In July, Chaves announced his candidacy with the recently founded Social Democratic Progress Party. Liberal Union: Former Libertarian Movement leader Otto Guevara left the Libertarian Movement after the party went bankrupt and in economic disarray, and founded the Liberal Union Party. The former deputy and former Libertarian presidential candidate Federico Guillermo Malavassi Calvo announced his presidential nomination with Guevara as deputy candidate on the party list. Libertarian Movement: Lawyer and financier with a neoliberal tendency, Carlos Valenciano Kamer, known for suing Célimo Guido during the demonstrations of the National Rescue Movement at the end of 2020, was announced as a candidate by the libertarian party, but he quit some months after. The party nominated Luis Alberto Cordero Arias as the presidential candidate. National Encounter: Former deputy Óscar Campos, organizer of blockades and protests against the government in 2018, founded this party. National Restoration: This party, that held an important role in the last election, nominated the former president of the Legislative Assembly, Eduardo Cruickshank. New Generation Party: Sergio Mena Díaz would be repeating for the third time the presidential candidacy with a double nomination for deputy also for the third time for New Generation. New Republic: Fabricio Alvarado, who was the first place of the first round and runner-up of the previous election, announced his separation from the party for which he was a deputy and candidate, and create the New Republic Party, although he assures that this would be a secular and non-Christian party unlike its predecessor.