Costa Rica Election Hands Presidency to Governing Party Stalwart
Costa Rica Election Hands Presidency to Governing Party Stalwart Photo Carlos Alvarado Quesada after casting his ballot in a presidential runoff in San José, Costa Rica, on Sunday. A former labor minister, he won nearly 61 percent of the vote. Credit Associated Press MEXICO CITY — A former labor minister and novelist from the governing party was decisively elected president of Costa Rica in a runoff on Sunday, holding off an evangelical Christian singer who had built an upstart campaign in part on his opposition to same-sex marriage.
With ballots from about 91 percent of polling stations counted, the former minister, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, had won nearly 61 percent of the votes, while his opponent, Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz, had received about 39 percent, according to the federal election authorities.
Mr. Alvarado Muñoz, a former television journalist who was elected to the national Legislative Assembly in 2014 but resigned in February to focus on his campaign, conceded defeat in a spe..