IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: Costa Rica

4,999,384	19
Population (as of Feb. 8, 2019)	Elections in our database
3,544,919	63.43%
Registered Voters (as of April 21, 2022)	Average Turnout

Name	Official Name	Type
Costa Rican Presidency	None	Head of State
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	Asamblea Legislativa	Assembly

Chief of State: President Carlos Alvarado QUESADA
Head of Government: President Carlos Alvarado QUESADA
Assembly: Costa Rica has a unicameral Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa) with 57 seats.

The President is elected by qualified majority to serve a 4-year term. The electoral system is two-rounds with a 40 percent threshold.
In the Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa) 57 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms. There are seven constituencies corresponding to Costa Rica's provinces, and seats are apportioned to each in proportion to population. Seats are allocated at the constituency level. Once all lists' quotas have been filled, there are additional considerations for sub-quotas of votes (50 percent of a full quota), and then for remainders less than sub-quotas.

Election For	Date	Votes	Registered Voters	Turn Out
Costa Rican Presidency	1998-02-01	1,431,913	2,045,980	69.99%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	1998-02-01	1,430,579	2,045,980	69.92%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	2002-02-03	1,569,338	2,279,851	68.84%
Costa Rican Presidency	2002-02-03	1,568,867	2,279,851	68.81%
Costa Rican Presidency	2002-04-07	1,389,702	2,279,851	60.96%
Costa Rican Presidency	2006-02-05	1,663,248	2,550,613	65.21%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	2006-02-05	1,662,899	2,548,577	65.25%
Referendum	2007-10-07	1,572,684	2,550,613	61.66%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	2010-02-07	1,782,878	2,822,491	63.17%
Costa Rican Presidency	2010-02-07	1,883,094	2,822,491	66.72%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	2014-02-02	1,734,047	3,065,667	56.56%
Costa Rican Presidency	2014-02-02	2,099,219	3,078,321	68.19%
Costa Rican Presidency	2014-04-06	1,712,679	3,024,159	56.63%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	2018-02-04	2,137,556	3,322,329	64.34%
Costa Rican Presidency	2018-02-04	2,182,764	3,322,329	65.7%
Costa Rican Presidency	2018-04-01	2,207,556	3,322,329	66.45%
Costa Rican Legislative Assembly	2022-02-06	2,117,913	3,492,073	60.65%
Costa Rican Presidency	2022-02-06	1,818,725	3,541,908	51.35%
Costa Rican Presidency	2022-04-03	1,940,799	3,544,919	54.75%