President of Costa Rica

The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two vice presidents are elected in the same ticket with the president. The president appoints the Council of Ministers.<ref>http://www.guiascostarica.com/cr1.htm executive branch</ref> Due to the abolition of the military of Costa Rica in 1948, the president is not a commander-in-chief, unlike the norm in most other countries, although the Constitution does describe him as commander-in-chief of the civil defense public forces.<ref name="constitute">Template:Cite web</ref>

From 1969 to 2005, the president was barred from seeking reelection. After the amendment banning reelection was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2005, an incumbent president became eligible to run again after waiting for at least eight years after leaving office.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Election

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 the largest number of votes.<ref>Costa Rica IFES</ref>

Qualifications

According to Article 131 of the Constitution, The following is required to be president or vice president of the Republic:

Attributes and duties

According to article 139 of the Constitution of Costa Rica, the following powers are exclusive attributes<ref name="constitute"/> of the president:

Article 140 gives the president the following duties<ref name="constitute"/> alongside the respective minister:

Limitations

The Constitution also establishes limitations on the president's powers<ref name="constitute"/> which can be prosecuted if broken.

Article 148.

Article 149

Latest election

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	José María Figueres Olsen	National Liberation Party	497,966	27.26	884,029	47.12%
	Rodrigo Chaves Robles	Social Democratic Progress Party	305,157	16.70	991,955	52.88%
	Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz	New Republic Party	270,800	14.82
	Lineth Saborío Chaverri	Social Christian Unity Party	225,866	12.36
	Eliécer Feinzaig Mintz	Liberal Progressive Party	225,239	12.33
	José María Villalta Florez-Estrada	Broad Front	158,991	8.70
	Rolando Araya Monge	A Just Costa Rica	17,317	0.95
	Natalia Díaz Quintana	United We Can	14,965	0.82
	Greivin Moya Carpio	National Force Party	14,309	0.78
	Welmer Ramos González	Citizens' Action Party	12,135	0.66
	Sergio Mena Díaz	New Generation Party	11,027	0.60
	Óscar López Arias	Accessibility without Exclusion	10,736	0.59
	Rodolfo Hernández Gómez	Social Christian Republican Party	10,692	0.59
	Eduardo Cruickshank Smith	National Restoration Party	10,000	0.55
	Federico Malavassi Calvo	Liberal Union Party	6,575	0.36
	Carmen Quesada Santamaría	Costa Rican Social Justice Party	6,472	0.35
	Maricela Morales Mora	Costa Rican Democratic Union	5,734	0.31
	Christian Rivera Paniagua	Christian Democratic Alliance	5,098	0.28
	Óscar Campos Chavarría	National Encounter Party	4,263	0.23
	Rodolfo Piza Rocafort	Our People Party	3,106	0.17
	Walter Múñoz Céspedes	National Integration Party	2,975	0.16
	Roulan Jiménez Chavarría	Costa Rican Social Democratic Movement	2,137	0.12
	Martín Chinchilla Castro	United People	1,958	0.11
	Jhon Vega Masís	Workers' Party	1,772	0.10
	Luis Alberto Cordero Arias	Libertarian Movement	1,753	0.10
Invalid/blank votes			26,454	–	-	–
Total			1,818,725	100	-	100
Registered voters/turnout			3,541,908	59.74		-
Source: TSE<ref>Template:Cite web.</ref> (88,20 % of Electoral boards processed)

See also

• Politics of Costa Rica
• List of political parties in Costa Rica
• History of Costa Rica