Laura Fernandez, Costa Rica's next president, aims to keep on populist path

Laura Fernandez will be Costa Rica's next president, pushing forward with a populist mandate set by her predecessor that includes promises of constitutional reforms and the suspension of civil liberties to fight crime at a time of surging drug violence.

Fernandez, 39, built her career as a political adviser and civil servant at Costa Rica's Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, where current President Rodrigo Chaves appointed her minister in 2022.

A fierce supporter of Chaves, Fernandez went on to be his chief of staff, before launching her own campaign for president.

Lawmaker Pilar Cisneros, who leads the government's faction in Congress and is seen as a key figure in Chaves' rise to power, said a group of about 10 people close to Chaves, including the president, hand-picked Fernandez.

"Few people know the state like she does — she knows where the knots are," Cisneros said.

Known for her theatrical speaking style and taste for dancing that she often shows off at campaign rallies, Fernandez was born in Esparza in the coastal province of Puntarenas, and grew up in the capital of San Jose.

She is married with a young daughter and is a conservative Catholic with a strong family message, which has helped her attract support from the country's growing evangelical groups.

She has spoken of her admiration for El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, known for his hard-line approach to crime and gangs, and has said she would enact states of emergency in high-crime areas that would limit civil liberties. She has also vowed to finish building a high-security penitentiary modeled after El Salvador's CECOT mega prison.

During the campaign, opponents accused Fernandez of being a "puppet" for Chaves and questioned her autonomy.

"The one who is going to govern is her — she will be the president — but she would be foolish not to show she has Don Rodrigo's backing. She is loyal to our political project," Cisneros said.

Flanked by supporters in San Jose after declaring victory, Fernandez promised a new era of politics in Costa Rica.

"Change will be deep and irreversible," Fernandez said, announcing that the Central American nation was entering a new political era.

Costa Rica's second republic, which began after the 1948 civil war, "is a thing of the past," she said. "It's up to us to build the third republic."

Fernandez will be Costa Rica's second female president after Laura Chinchilla, who governed from 2010 to 2014. Since leaving office, Chinchilla has taken on a number of roles at international organizations and universities and become a vocal opponent of the governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

She has also become one of the most outspoken critics of the current Costa Rican government and its political movement, saying it follows a "predictable script" of other authoritarian leaders in the region. She has called Fernandez "rude and populist" and "a bad copy of the president."

-Reporting by Alvaro Murillo and Alexander Villegas, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Lincoln Feast/Reuters