Costa Rica polls open for centre-right populists to extend mandate.

In the Costa Rica general election, Laura Fernandez, President Rodrigo Chaves’s protege and former chief of staff, is leading in the polls with over 40 percent, potentially securing a win without a run-off. She aims to continue Chaves’s tough security policies and anti-establishment message. Her main rivals are centrist economist Alvaro Ramos and progressive architect Claudia Dobles, who may compete in a run-off if Fernandez falls short of 40 percent. Fernandez seeks a supermajority in the Legislative Assembly to pursue constitutional reforms and has the support of undecided voters, particularly from coastal provinces affected by drug violence.

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