By Gustavo A Maranges on April 7, 2022
The recent elections in Costa Rica left more doubts than answers about the country’s future. The recently elected president Rodrigo Chaves is an outsider in the national political landscape, just like the party he represents. Therefore, many people are wondering about his first measures, his cabinet, and his approach to the region. What are the reasons behind Chaves’ victory? Is Chaves more of the same or not? All these questions do not have simple or easy-to-find answers, but there are some facts that can put some light on the issues.
Rodrigo Chaves is an economist who worked in the World Bank (WB) from 1993 to 2020 when he returned to the country to work as Finance Minister. He only held the post for 5 months due to conflict he has with President Carlos Alvarado. Coming from the World Bank is not the best credential from the point of view of the workers and the growing poor but he claims he is concerned about them.
He resigned from the WB after a sexual harassment scandal and even though he was never prosecuted for it the case is still under investigation and the issue followed him throughout the election campaign.
Chaves won the election with 52.84% of the votes amidst huge number of abstentions. Almost 43% of the eligible voters in the country did not bother to cast a ballot, showing a growing trend compared to the first round. It means that the new president was voted in by less than a third of the population, something he acknowledged in his first speech after the victory.
Chaves’ victory came out of the blue for many people. His opponent Jose Maria Figueres from the National Liberal Party (PLN), got 10% more votes than Chaves in the first round. So the runoff result was a surprise, possibly because of a successful strategy of building alliances and holding out an offer to Figueres to come into the government in some capacity.
The elected president will have to work in coalitions to govern in an order to get implemented any change since his party, the Democratic Social Progress Party (PSD), got only 10 out of the 57 seats of the National Parliament. Taking into account the runoff results and Chaves’ words to Figueres, there is no doubt that alliances have been already made, but who will benefit from that?
Chaves did say he would review the Costa Rica’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whereby Costa Rica is supposed to receive $1.77 billion in three years. The loan was signed just a year ago and faced strong opposition by way of protests in the streets. However, it seems Chavez just wants to make a few cosmetic changes while keeping the core aspects. Looking at his record at the World Bank (closely tied to the IMF) it is hard to imagine he would seriously take them on but rather continue what would be years of indebtedness.
Unraveling the future of the Central American country, based on the elected president’s profile, seems difficult. Chaves favors increasing ties with China and sending an Ambassador to Nicaragua, but at the same time, he talks about giving more space to evangelic churches, which is a clear signal to the conservative corners of the country. Actually, some local journalists are calling him “the conservator economist”.
Regarding the formation of his cabinet, he has not said much except Chaves did state that he will consider some international and evangelical church’s opinions before making any decision. Chaves even said the Church’s opinions will be important in the appointment of the Health, Education, and Foreign Affairs Ministers indicating that the power and influence of the evangelist Christians has never been so evident as they are today.
There are many murky things about this election but the lack of enthusiasm among the Costa Rican electorate clearly shows an alienation of many and a lack of confidence in the direction of the so-called “Switzerland of Central America”. Traditional parties like the PLN have lost the strong support they once had thanks to the unavoidable pitfalls of the neo-liberal model that is in decline worldwide. The victory of an outsider like Chaves is evidence of it. Chaves’ approach to social policies remains an enigma yet but his past record does not offer a good forecast.
Before concluding anything, we need to have in mind that we are talking about Costa Rica, a country with unique socio-economic traits, way different from its neighbors. The the national oligarchs have been very close to the U.S. and have total control over the country. So the question remains, can any change come from the “outsider” Rodrigo Chaves, who looks remarkably similar to those who have proceeded him.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English