Archive February 1, 2026

Polls have opened in the Costa Rica general election as the ‍centre-right populist government seeks to extend its mandate and secure control of the Legislative Assembly at a time when drug-fuelled violence has gripped the country.

Voting stations opened at 6am local time (12:00 GMT) on Sunday and will remain open until 6pm (24:00 GMT), with early trends likely within hours.

Laura Fernandez, President Rodrigo Chaves’s protege and former chief of staff, is leading in the polls ⁠with more than 40 percent, enough to win outright and avoid an April 5 run-off. ​She has pledged to continue Chaves’s tough security policies and anti-establishment message.

Her closest ‍rivals in the 20-candidate field are Alvaro Ramos, a centrist economist representing Costa Rica’s oldest political party, and Claudia Dobles, an architect representing a progressive coalition and a former first lady whose husband, Carlos Alvarado, ‍served as president ⁠from 2018 to 2022.

Both are polling in the single digits but are seen as the two most likely to compete in a possible run-off if Fernandez falls short of 40 percent.

Fernandez has also urged voters to hand her 40 seats in the country’s 57-seat Legislative Assembly, a supermajority that would allow her to pursue constitutional reforms. The current government holds just eight seats and has blamed ​congressional gridlock for blocking its agenda.

Polls show about a ‌quarter of the 3.7 million voters remain undecided, with the largest group being between the ages of 18 and 34 and from the coastal provinces of Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limon.

“People are tired of promises from all the governments, including ‌this one, even though the government has said things that are true, like needing stronger laws to restore order,” said Yheison ‌Ugarte, a 26-year-old deliveryman from downtown Limon, a Caribbean ⁠port city that has been the hardest hit by drug violence.

Despite homicides surging to an all-time high during his term and multiple corruption investigations, Chaves remains deeply popular, with a 58 percent approval rating, according to the University of Costa ‌Rica’s CIEP polling.

Allan Saint-Maximin’s brief stint ‌with Club America has come to an abrupt end just months after the French ‍winger arrived in ‍Mexico as the club announced his departure two days after he revealed his children had been targeted by racist attacks.

The 28-year-old former Newcastle United winger signed a two-year contract with the Liga MX club in August in a deal ⁠reportedly worth $10m but managed just 15 appearances before his sudden exit on Saturday.

Club America ​expressed solidarity with Saint-Maximin in announcing his departure although neither party disclosed ‍specific details about the incident that prompted his decision to leave.

“We reiterate our strong condemnation of any act of discrimination and/or violence that violates human dignity, both on and off the field,” the Mexico City club ‍said in a ⁠statement.

“We express our absolute solidarity with Allan Saint-Maximin and his family, who have the support of everyone who is part of this institution.

“Thank you so much for wearing our colours Allan Saint-Maximin.”

Saint-Maximin had taken to Instagram to address what he described as attacks on his children, making clear his determination to protect his family.

“The problem is not skin colour, it is the colour of thoughts. People ​attack me, but that’s not a problem. I grew up ‌learning to fight back against attacks, whether they are subtle, hidden or direct,” he wrote on Instagram.

“But there is one thing I will never tolerate, and that is people attacking my children. Protecting my children is ‌my priority. I will fight with all my strength to ensure that they are respected and loved, regardless of their origins ‌or skin colour.

“So, to those who dared to attack my ⁠children, I say this: you made a mistake. I will always fight to protect my family and no person or threat will ever scare me.”

America boss Andre Jardine said it was a “real shame” to lose a ‌player of Saint-Maximin’s calibre.

“He’s a great player who was doing well for the league and has the ability to play in any league in the world. It was a big ‍change for him, moving from Europe to Mexico,” Jardine said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that any attack on his country would result in a “regional war” as US President Donald Trump amasses military assets in the Middle East.

“They should know that if they start a war this time, it will be a regional war,” the 86-year-old supreme leader, who has held absolute power for about 37 years, said at an event in downtown Tehran on Sunday.

He was speaking on the anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s return from exile in France to Iran in 1979, which led to the Iranian Revolution and the fleeing of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Khamenei’s comments came as the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, jet fighters and navy destroyers neared the region after nationwide antigovernment protests in Iran, in which thousands of people were killed in January.

The protests, which started in late December over the collapse of the Iranian rial, later morphed into a direct challenge to Khamenei’s rule.

Iranian authorities maintain that the demonstrators were instigated and led by foreign agents.

“The recent sedition was similar to a coup. Of course, the coup was suppressed,” Khamenei said at the commemoration on Sunday.

“Their goal was to destroy sensitive and effective centres involved in running the country, and for this reason, they attacked the police, government centres, [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] facilities, banks and mosques and burned copies of the Quran.”

Iranian state media said the protests killed 3,117 people, including 2,427 civilians and members of the security forces. US-based rights activists said more than 6,000 people were killed. Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify the figures.

Since the nationwide upheaval, Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack the country.

The US president initially conditioned a US attack on Tehran’s behaviour towards demonstrators, but he later shifted his posture, saying he wanted Iran to agree to a nuclear deal.

In June, Iranian and American officials were engaged in indirect talks in Oman before Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran. The US also joined Israel and struck Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Khamenei maintained a defiant tone on Sunday, accusing the US of wanting to seize Iran’s resources, including oil and natural gas. “This is the main reason for their hostility, and the rest of their talk, like human rights, is empty talk,” he said.

Despite the rhetoric, both Iran and the US have confirmed that they have opened lines of communication to try to work out a deal to avoid a military confrontation.

On Saturday, Trump said Tehran was “seriously talking” with Washington, hours after the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said Tehran was prepared for talks with the US.

Trump, speaking on board Air Force One, said he believed Iran should agree to a deal with “no nuclear weapons”, adding, however, that he did not know whether Tehran would sign up to such an accord.