Runoff likely as Costa Ricans choose among 25 presidential candidates


Costa Ricans go to the polls Sunday to choose their country's next president, but the day's voting is unlikely to produce a clear winner, Reuters reports.
If no candidate wins more than 40 percent of the vote, the top two will advance to a runoff election to be held in April. Twenty-five candidates are seeking the presidency, and none of them are polling anywhere near 40 percent.
Per Reuters, centrist former President José Maria Figueres, who was in office from 1994 to 1998, leads in the polls with about 17 percent of the vote, while center-right candidate Lineth Saborío, who served as vice president from 2002 to 2006, is polling in second place at around 13 percent.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The candidate for the governing center-left Citizen Action party, which has been in power for two terms, is polling at 0.3 percent, and incumbent President Carlos Alvarado Quesada is constitutionally barred from serving a second consecutive term.
According to Al Jazeera, polls show that approximately one-third of Costa Rica's 3.5 million voters remain undecided.
All 57 seats in the country's unicameral National Assembly are also up for election.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Secret Service 'failures' on Trump shooting
Speed Read Two new reports detail security breakdowns that led to attempts on the president's life
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Mahmoud Khalil files $20M claim over ICE detention
Speed Read This is the 'first damages complaint' brought by an individual targeted by the Trump's administration's 'crackdown' on Gaza war protesters
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officials
Speed Read The unknown individual mimicked Rubio in voice and text messages sent to multiple government officials
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
New tariffs set on 14 trading partners
Speed Read A new slate of tariffs will begin August 1 on imports from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and more
-
Elon Musk launching 'America Party'
Speed Read The tech mogul promised to form a new political party if Trump's megabill passed Congress