Costa Rica: Government Structure

Costa Rica is organized as a presidential, representative democratic republic with power divided among three separate branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. This structure, rooted in the 1949 constitution, has helped the country maintain one of the longest continuous democratic traditions in Latin America, without a standing army since the abolition of its military that same year.

Executive power rests with the president, who serves simultaneously as head of state and head of government and is elected to a single four-year term, with re-election permitted only after an eight-year gap. The president is joined by two vice presidents and a cabinet of ministers, and holds veto power over most legislation except the national budget. Legislative authority belongs to the unicameral Legislative Assembly, made up of 57 deputies elected every four years through proportional representation, a system that has produced an increasingly multi-party landscape since the mid-2000s.

The judicial branch operates independently of the other two, anchored by the Supreme Court of Justice, and plays an active role in resolving constitutional disputes through its Constitutional Chamber. Costa Rica's seven provinces no longer have elected governors or provincial legislatures, since that layer of subnational government was abolished in 1998, leaving most administrative authority concentrated at the national and municipal levels.