Q COSTARICA — If President Rodrigo Chaves had not signaled to his supporters whom to support in the previous elections, 70% of Laura Fernández’s voters would have chosen another presidential candidate last February, according to the latest Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) poll.
This finding is significant considering that electoral law prohibits the sitting president from participating in politics and even commenting on the subject.
By the end of 2025, the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE)—elections tribunal—had received over 25 complaints accusing Rodrigo Chaves of political belligerence. The TSE even asked to have Chaves’ immunity lifted so they could move forward with their investigations.
According to the poll, the majority of voters would have cast blank ballots (26%), were undecided (22%), or cast invalid ballots (17%), while Álvaro Ramos of the PLN (7.9%), Fabricio Alvarado of Nueva República (4.7%), and Claudia Dobles of Agenda Ciudadana would have benefited.
On the other hand, President Fernández will lead a government with very high expectations, as 59.2% of Costa Ricans believe her government will be better than the current administration of Rodrigo Chaves, while 33% think it will be the same and 7.4% believe it will be worse.
This Wednesday, the latest poll from the Center for Political Research and Studies (CIEP) at the UCR was released, highlighting the significant influence of Chaves’ supporters in the election.
To obtain this data, the UCR conducted 1,005 telephone interviews with people over 18 years of age between April 20-23 and 27-29. With this number of completed interviews and using a 95% confidence level, the maximum margin of error is estimated at ±3.1 percentage points.