Tomorrow, Costa Ricans will, for a second time this year, visit the voting booths. After a first round, the presidential contest was narrowed down to two contestants. Recent polls suggest that Fabricio Alvarado will win the presidential ticket. With him in power, a Pentecostal Christian inspired political movement would gain control of one of the oldest democracies in the Americas.

Between 1870 and 1940, a series of progressive reforms known as the “liberal state” successfully excluded the Catholic Church from government affairs in Costa Rica. Civil marriage and divorce were proclaimed legal, and education was made public. The clergy’s influence on electoral politics was also severely curtailed. From that point forward, all versions of the constitution have included article 28, which reads “In no way clerics or worshipers can make political proselytism invoking religious motives nor stoke fear through religious beliefs”.

Over the past two decades, the rise of Evangelic Christianity in Latin American has dramatically reshaped the religious landscape. Currently, more than a quarter of Costa Ricans identify as evangelical Christians in a country with deep catholic roots. Not surprisingly, Christian inspired politicians have slowly earned the souls, offerings and votes of the electorate. To the demise of the democratic process, a permissive Supreme Electoral Tribunal has done little to stop the political discourse emanating from thousands of Evangelic pulpits scattered throughout the country. Despite the obvious signs of growth exhibit by this political force, it was hard to imagine the outstanding electoral season experienced by evangelical parties this year. Once the new congress is inaugurated in June, 14 out of 57 parliamentary seats will be occupied by members adhered to an evangelical political movement, with seven members of this group identifying as preachers of a Pentecostal version of the Christian gospel.

The big price might be yet to come though. If things play out as the latest polls indicate, Fabricio Alvarado — a tv evangelist / Christian pop rock musician turned politician will become the next president of Costa Rica. What are the political implications of this? If we consider Alvarado’s tenure as a congressman, one thing is evident: it is very unlikely that sexual minorities will achieve equal civil rights in the near future.

In the last four years, Alvarado has been instrumental in pushing a conservative agenda in the Costa Rican congress with the goal of stopping the spread of “gender ideologies”. After a historical pronunciation by the International Human Right Court that called for 12 Latin American countries — among them Costa Rica- to fully grant equal rights to LGBTQ community, Alvarado was quick to stoke conservative mindsets and rally thousands to a “pro family” march. One of his campaign members recently confirmed that gays will not be considered as potential members of the cabinet to “respect the values of Costa Rican”.

Fabricio Alvarado claiming that through his government and faith he can cure homosexuals

Women will also face plenty of challenges in a government led by Fabricio Alvarado. Multiple videos circulating on Facebook show Alvarado referring to women as man’s “handmaid”. Furthermore, the evangelical wing of the congress will support measures that infringe on women’s reproductive freedoms.

If elected, Alvarado will inherit a country showing good economic growth, but an alarming public deficit. Knowing exactly how he will deal with the financial crisis in Costa Rica is difficult. “Restauracion Nacional”, Alvarado’s party has yet to put out a complete governing plan and his economic team was assembled just within the last month from the leftovers of one of the political parties crushed during the first round of elections. Most likely, in its push to reduce government spending, the next government will exhibit a hostile stand to negotiations with the many unions found in the public sector. Because of his preliminary electoral success, a portion of the business community has shown openness to the idea of working with Alvarado and his government. Some of us fear however, that this turn of events might scare away any open-minded Americans that ponder visiting the country. Considering that with their visits, more than 1.2 million Americans fuel the ever — important tourism industry of this small nation, this could be a big deal.

A poor performance of past governments and a rhetoric full of religious magical thinking partly explains why Costa Ricans are choosing to support evangelical political parties. In my opinion, electing Fabricio Alvarado as a president is a step in the wrong direction. History has shown us time and time again, that mixing religion and politics is always a very bad idea. Personally, it is impossible for me to trust a candidate that claims to speak in tongues, follows the prosperity gospel and finds enemies in every Costa Rican that does not share his moral stands and religious beliefs.