The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two vice presidents are elected in the same ticket with the president. The president appoints the Council of Ministers. Due to the abolition of the military of Costa Rica in 1948, the president is not a commander-in-chief, unlike the norm in most other countries, although the Constitution does describe them as commander-in-chief of the civil defense public forces.
From 1969 to 2005, the president was barred from seeking reelection. After the amendment banning reelection was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2005, an incumbent president became eligible to run again after waiting for at least eight years after leaving office.
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Election
The President of Costa Rica is elected using a modified two-round system in which a candidate must receive at least 40% of the vote to win in the first round; if no candidate wins in the first round, a runoff is held between the two candidates with the largest number of votes.
Qualifications
According to Article 131 of the Constitution, The following is required to be president or vice president of the Republic:
# To be Costa Rican by birth and a citizen in exercise;
To have secular status;
To be older than thirty years.
Attributes and duties
According to article 139 of the Constitution of Costa Rica, the following powers are exclusive attributes of the president:
# To freely appoint and remove the ministers of government;
To represent the Nation in the acts of official character;
To exercise the supreme command of the public force;
To present to the Legislative Assembly, at the initiation of the first annual period of sessions, a written message relative to the various matters of the Administration and the political state of the Republic and in which he must, additionally, propose the measures that he judges important for the good functioning of the Government and the progress and well-being of the Nation;
To previously communicate to the Legislative Assembly, when he intends to leave the country, the motives for his trip.
Article 140 gives the president the following duties alongside the respective minister:
# To freely appoint and to remove the members of the public force, the employees and functionaries who serve offices of confidence, and the others that, in very qualified cases, the Law of [the] Civil Service determines;
To appoint and to remove, subject to the requirements provided by the Law of [the] Civil Service, the rest of the [public] servants of their dependency;
To sanction and promulgate the laws, regulate them, execute them, and see to their exact fulfillment;
In the recesses of the Legislative Assembly, to decree the suspension of [the] rights and guarantees that paragraph 7) of Article 121 refers to[,] in the same cases and with the same limitations established there[,] and immediately give account to the Assembly. The decree of suspension of guarantees is equivalent, ipso facto, to the convocation of the Assembly to sessions, which must meet within the following forty-eight hours. If the Assembly does not confirm the measure by two-thirds of the votes of the totality of its members, the guarantees will be considered restored. If because of lack of quorum the Assembly cannot meet, it will do so the next day with any number of Deputies. In this case, the decree of the Executive Power needs to be approved by [a] vote of no less than the two-thirds part of those present;
Limitations
The Constitution also establishes limitations on the president's powers which can be prosecuted if broken.
Article 148.
The President of the Republic will be responsible for the use he makes of those attributions that according to this Constitution correspond to him in an exclusive form. Each Minister of Government will be jointly responsible with the President[,] in respect to the exercise of the attributions that this Constitution grants to both of them. The responsibility for the acts of the Council of Government will extend to all those who concurred with their vote to adopt the respective agreement.
Article 149
The President of the Republic and the Minister of Government who had participated in the acts indicated as follows will also be jointly responsible:
When they compromise in any form the freedom, the political independence, or the territorial integrity of the Republic;
When they impede or obstruct directly or indirectly the popular elections, or infringe upon the principles of alternation in the exercise of the Presidency or of free presidential succession, or against the freedom, order, or purity of the suffrage;
When they impede or obstruct the functions that are specific to the Legislative Assembly or restrict its freedom and independence;
When they refuse to publish or execute the laws or other legislative acts;
When they impede or obstruct the functions specific to the Judicial Power, or [when they] restrict the freedom with which the Tribunals must judge the causes submitted to their decision, or when they obstruct in some form the functions that correspond to the electoral organs or the municipalities;