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Partial researchResearch snapshot 2026-09-13. Evidence gaps remain; see Coverage for requirements.

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Office briefing

SAN RAFAEL — Municipal council

Tracked current office. Identifiers stay separate from display names.

Costa Rica · SAN RAFAEL / HEREDIA · municipal · Municipal councilCR-C-HEREDIA-SAN-RAFAEL

Read the complete original research briefing

TSE vote books joined to official elected-member declarations where geographic and total checks reconcile. Substitutes retained separately. Subsequent replacements and current officeholder status require review.

1. What office, where, and when is the next election?

Geography
SAN RAFAEL / HEREDIA
Next election
2028-02-06
Linked upcoming event
next-b7e0906064d601c8f8dec76c
Registry qualification
Unknown

2. How certain is that date?

2028-02-06 is expected (not formally called). Day precision. A date without a formal call is not confirmed.

3. Who won earlier selected elections?

2024-02-04

Ordinary · Legal certification not established · list votes

  • BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑO27.4%
  • LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL25.3%
  • UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANA22.6%
  • UNIDOS PODEMOS5.3%
  • FRENTE AMPLIO4.5%
  • PROGRESO SOCIAL DEMOCRÁTICO4.3%
  • LIBERAL PROGRESISTA3.5%
  • PUEBLO SOBERANO2.8%
  • ACCIÓN CIUDADANA2.7%
  • NUEVA REPÚBLICA1.0%
  • NUEVA GENERACIÓN0.5%
Results for event-e481b905d29ac0b0708f0472
Label / candidateParty codeVotesShareSeatsStatus
BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20243,33127.4%3Recorded
LIBERACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20243,07225.3%2Recorded
UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20242,74222.6%2Recorded
UNIDOS PODEMOScosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20246485.3%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
FRENTE AMPLIOcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20245434.5%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
PROGRESO SOCIAL DEMOCRÁTICOcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20245234.3%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
LIBERAL PROGRESISTAcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20244213.5%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
PUEBLO SOBERANOcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20243412.8%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
ACCIÓN CIUDADANAcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20243322.7%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
NUEVA REPÚBLICAcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/20241231%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
NUEVA GENERACIÓNcosta-rica/Sc1df243471/2024610.5%0 (recorded zero)Recorded

2020-02-02

Ordinary · Legal certification not established · list votes

  • LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL40.5%
  • UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANA25.5%
  • FRENTE AMPLIO10.4%
  • ACCIÓN CIUDADANA8.5%
  • NUEVA REPUBLICA7.1%
  • UNIDOS PODEMOS5.4%
  • RESTAURACIÓN NACIONAL1.4%
  • REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANO1.2%
Results for event-0ac4b7865e34883d9850fdae
Label / candidateParty codeVotesShareSeatsStatus
LIBERACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20204,77640.5%3Recorded
UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20203,00025.5%2Recorded
FRENTE AMPLIOcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20201,22110.4%1Recorded
ACCIÓN CIUDADANAcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20201,0078.5%1Recorded
NUEVA REPUBLICAcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20208357.1%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
UNIDOS PODEMOScosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20206325.4%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
RESTAURACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20201691.4%0 (recorded zero)Recorded
REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANOcosta-rica/Sfa91292290/20201471.2%0 (recorded zero)Recorded

2016-02-07

Ordinary · Legal certification not established · list votes

  • LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL40.3%
  • ACCIÓN CIUDADANA17.9%
  • UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANA16.9%
  • FRENTE AMPLIO11.6%
  • REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANO7.7%
  • MOVIMIENTO LIBERTARIO5.5%
Results for event-f9d6043ae9c3b3786f78ac84
Label / candidateParty codeVotesShareSeatsStatus
LIBERACIÓN NACIONALcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/20164,29240.3%3Recorded
ACCIÓN CIUDADANAcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/20161,90617.9%1Recorded
UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/20161,80216.9%1Recorded
FRENTE AMPLIOcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/20161,23211.6%1Recorded
REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANOcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/20168257.7%1Recorded
MOVIMIENTO LIBERTARIOcosta-rica/S79669f3e5d/20165895.5%0 (recorded zero)Recorded

4. Competition and volatility

competition index

Provisional imported-series CI

59.790–100 historical closeness

Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Provisional imported-series comparison; actual-event review open

Method ci.weighted-gap.v1. Inputs: latest_gap=2.133970503419299, oldest_gap=22.412173586323505, previous_gap=15.067447187579539

pedersen volatility

Provisional volatility

38.51percentage points

Grouped Pedersen lower bound (percentage points). Twelve explicitly named standalone national parties; accent variants normalized. Local parties and coalitions remain Other. No alliance votes are attributed to individual member parties. An interval is withheld if either election has no list mapped to an explicit named group. This is aggregate share change, not individual voter switching. Event review: Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Latest interval

Method pedersen.grouped.v1. Inputs: groups=["PLN","PUSC","PAC","Frente Amplio","PRN","Nueva Republica","PML","PIN","PASE","PRSC","PLP","PPSD","Other"], interval=Latest interval, vectors=[[25.311032380324626,22.592073823844444,2.735437093186125,4.473922715662849,0,1.0134300074153415,0,0,0,0,3.468731976600478,4.309137348603444,36.096234654362696],[40.51921608551795,25.451768897938408,8.543310426741325,10.35886994146093,1.4337829812505303,7.084075676592857,0,0,0,1.247136675998982,0,0,5.361839314499024],[40.315611497275974,16.92654518128875,17.90343791095247,11.572421566785648,0,0,5.532594401653203,0,0,7.74938944204396,0,0,0]]

pedersen volatility

Provisional volatility

22.61percentage points

Grouped Pedersen lower bound (percentage points). Twelve explicitly named standalone national parties; accent variants normalized. Local parties and coalitions remain Other. No alliance votes are attributed to individual member parties. An interval is withheld if either election has no list mapped to an explicit named group. This is aggregate share change, not individual voter switching. Event review: Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Previous interval

Method pedersen.grouped.v1. Inputs: groups=["PLN","PUSC","PAC","Frente Amplio","PRN","Nueva Republica","PML","PIN","PASE","PRSC","PLP","PPSD","Other"], interval=Previous interval, vectors=[[25.311032380324626,22.592073823844444,2.735437093186125,4.473922715662849,0,1.0134300074153415,0,0,0,0,3.468731976600478,4.309137348603444,36.096234654362696],[40.51921608551795,25.451768897938408,8.543310426741325,10.35886994146093,1.4337829812505303,7.084075676592857,0,0,0,1.247136675998982,0,0,5.361839314499024],[40.315611497275974,16.92654518128875,17.90343791095247,11.572421566785648,0,0,5.532594401653203,0,0,7.74938944204396,0,0,0]]

pedersen volatility

Provisional volatility

30.56percentage points

Grouped Pedersen lower bound (percentage points). Twelve explicitly named standalone national parties; accent variants normalized. Local parties and coalitions remain Other. No alliance votes are attributed to individual member parties. An interval is withheld if either election has no list mapped to an explicit named group. This is aggregate share change, not individual voter switching. Event review: Actual-event and/or comparability review incomplete

Comparison status: Both intervals mean

Method pedersen.grouped.v1. Inputs: groups=["PLN","PUSC","PAC","Frente Amplio","PRN","Nueva Republica","PML","PIN","PASE","PRSC","PLP","PPSD","Other"], interval=Both intervals mean, vectors=[[25.311032380324626,22.592073823844444,2.735437093186125,4.473922715662849,0,1.0134300074153415,0,0,0,0,3.468731976600478,4.309137348603444,36.096234654362696],[40.51921608551795,25.451768897938408,8.543310426741325,10.35886994146093,1.4337829812505303,7.084075676592857,0,0,0,1.247136675998982,0,0,5.361839314499024],[40.315611497275974,16.92654518128875,17.90343791095247,11.572421566785648,0,0,5.532594401653203,0,0,7.74938944204396,0,0,0]]

Source-reported control: Unverified. Current tenure requires separate dated evidence.

5. Officeholder evidence

Dated roster observations are not automatically current tenure. The source current-office flag means this office is tracked now, not that the last winner still holds it.

Officeholder observations
PersonRoleAs ofAffiliationPrincipal?
RICARDO IRLAN GOMEZ SOLISREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOprincipal
ANDREA MAYELA HERNANDEZ SOTOREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOprincipal
ADRIAN ARCE LOBOREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOprincipal
LUIS GUSTAVO CHACON CALVOREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
PATRICIA SOLORZANO ACUÑAREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
MINOR ROBLES VARGASREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
SIRLENI CAROLINA SANCHEZ HERNANDEZREGIDURÍAS PROPIETARIAS2024UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
JUAN FRANCISCO VALERIO DELGADOREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOsubstitute
ODETTE FONSECA LEONREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOsubstitute
YERSON ALONSO GOMEZ SOLANOREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024BIENESTAR RAFAELEÑOsubstitute
ANDREY JESUS RODRIGUEZ ARCEREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
JOHANNA CANALES GOMEZREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
SIDER HERNANDEZ CAMPOSREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
KATHERINE GARCIA RODRIGUEZREGIDURÍAS SUPLENTES2024UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
ALVIS GONZALEZ GARITAREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
NATALIA MADRIGAL VILLALOBOSREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
CARLOS ALEXIS MORA MIRANDAREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
MINOR CHACON PEREZREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
MELISSA MARIA VILLALOBOS LOBOREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
JORGE EDUARDO ARIAS SANTAMARIAREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020FRENTE AMPLIOprincipal
JENIFFER PAOLA VARGAS ZUÑIGAREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2020ACCIÓN CIUDADANAprincipal
JOHANNA CANALES GOMEZREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
CRISTOBAL ANDRES MATAMOROS ACUÑAREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
YUNI ANDREA JIMENEZ LOPEZREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
JUAN ANIBAL ARCE PEREZREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
KATHERINE GARCIA RODRIGUEZREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
ANA JULIETA RAMIREZ MONTEROREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020FRENTE AMPLIOsubstitute
MARCO VINICIO ZUÑIGA CASTROREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2020ACCIÓN CIUDADANAsubstitute
ADRIAN OSCAR MIRANDA GARCIAREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
SOFIA SOLIS VARGASREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
FRANCISCO ANTONIO CALVO CHACONREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALprincipal
NESTOR ALONSO HERNANDEZ HERNANDEZREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016ACCIÓN CIUDADANAprincipal
JOSE RAFAEL FALLAS MUÑOZREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAprincipal
JORGE EDUARDO ARIAS SANTAMARIAREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016FRENTE AMPLIOprincipal
CARLOS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ CHAVESREGIDORES(AS) PROPIETARIOS(AS)2016REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANOprincipal
SANDRA FERNANDEZ PIEDRAREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
FREDDY VALERIO SEGURAREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
ANDREA GABRIELA HERNANDEZ HERNANDEZREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016LIBERACIÓN NACIONALsubstitute
JENIFFER PAOLA VARGAS ZUÑIGAREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016ACCIÓN CIUDADANAsubstitute
CARLOS ALBERTO SANCHEZ CORDEROREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016UNIDAD SOCIAL CRISTIANAsubstitute
JOSE DAVID CORTES JIMENEZREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016FRENTE AMPLIOsubstitute
IVANNIA PATRICIA VARGAS MADRIGALREGIDORES(AS) SUPLENTES2016REPUBLICANO SOCIAL CRISTIANOsubstitute

6. Polling context

No local poll supplied.

7. Unresolved issues and sources

  • other · open

    Published province heading correction: {"issue": "Published province heading correction", "year": 2020, "area": "Heredia", "source_id": "S41377daad8", "resolution": "The amendment corrects CARTAGO to HEREDIA in the second table heading. It changes no votes, winners or seats; the original declaration is joined to Heredia."}

Sources

Cite this record

Center for Digital Democracy. “SAN RAFAEL — Municipal council.” Subnational Election Observatory, releaselatin-america-fe5e91689def, snapshot 2026-09-13. /electiondatabase/offices/CR-C-HEREDIA-SAN-RAFAEL. Sources: costa-rica--url-ae6cfb21525f974d8912a00e, costa-rica--url-9b0bf8940eb485b811da317e, costa-rica--url-f8a1e09c9e89a7e5e9c55114, costa-rica--Sc1df243471, costa-rica--Sdbd8d963ea, costa-rica--Sfa91292290, costa-rica--S2a3f864318, costa-rica--S79669f3e5d, costa-rica--Sf5d1ba0ef9.