Where Democracy and Authoritarianism Meet. Populist Tendencies in the 2026 Costa Rican Elections

This thesis explores the relationship between populist-authoritarian discourse and voter attitudes in the context of Costa Rican politics. Combining demand-side and supply-side approaches to populism, the study examines how citizens respond to campaign messages associated with authoritarianism, anti-establishment rhetoric, and democratic backsliding during the 2026 Costa Rican presidential election. The research is divided into three stages. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 community leaders from eight municipalities: four that showed the highest electoral support for Rodrigo Chaves in the previous election and four that showed the lowest support. Two participants were selected from each municipality to explore perceptions of democracy, institutions, political leadership, and authoritarian attitudes. Second, the thesis analyzes the campaign discourse of Laura Fernández, the winning presidential candidate, with a particular focus on populist and authoritarian narratives. Third, follow-up interviews were conducted with 13 of the original participants, who were presented with selected campaign moments identified in the discourse analysis and asked to react to them. By combining discourse analysis with qualitative interviews, this thesis seeks to better understand the interaction between political communication and citizen attitudes in Costa Rica. More broadly, it contributes to debates on populism, authoritarianism, electoral behavior, and democratic resilience in Latin America.