Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said Friday he is the victim of a “shameless political lynching” during an appearance before a legislative committee that is considering lifting his immunity over alleged interference in the February 2026 elections.
In the midst of an unusual clash between branches of government in one of Latin America’s most respected democracies, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has asked Congress to remove Chaves’s immunity so he can be investigated for “political partisanship.”
“This is a circus, a comic opera” and a “shameless political lynching,” the president told the committee, which must decide whether to recommend that the full Congress debate lifting his immunity.
This is the second time that Chaves, 64, has faced such a process. In September, Congress rejected removing his immunity so he could be tried for alleged corruption, the first time a sitting president in Costa Rica had faced a request to be stripped of immunity.
“This is a shameful day for the country,” added Chaves, who left the legislative building after his appearance before the three-member committee — made up of two opposition lawmakers and one from the ruling party — without allowing questions from deputies.
The president then led a rally outside with supporters he had called on to come accompany him. If Chaves is stripped of his immunity, he would face a process that could end in his removal from office and a ban on holding public office for between two and four years.
In June, the TSE barred Chaves — who cannot run for re-election — from intervening in the election campaign because he had “illegitimately” used his office to “favor a political program.” Chaves, a conservative economist, has said he hopes his party will win a qualified majority in Congress in the upcoming elections in order to push through a series of reforms.
In power since 2022, the president accuses the Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court and Congress of blocking his government initiatives, while the heads of those institutions in turn accuse him of authoritarian tendencies.
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