The new president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, has a proven record of sexual harassment during his years as a high-ranking economist at the World Bank. He has also personally committed to rolling back on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and banning gender education.
Running as an anti-establishment outsider, Chaves won the run-off ballot on 3 April with 53% of the vote, beating former president Jose Maria Figueres on 47%. Turnout was 57%, lower than in the first round of the presidential election.
On 25 March, just days before the run-off, Chaves signed a ‘statement of intent’ proposed by ultra-conservative evangelical pastors, committing “before God” to remove ‘gender ideology’ from public education, review the current regulations on abortion and IVF fertility treatment, and resist any initiative to relax the law on abortion and euthanasia.
