TSE cancels council member credential in Los Chiles and appoints substitute

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal canceled the credential of proprietary council member held by Timoteo Antonio Altamirano Centeno in the Municipal Council of Los Chiles, province of Alajuela, having verified his resignation, and appointed Carlos Felipe Cárdenas Valladares in his place. The decision is contained in resolution No. 9777-M-2026, case file No. 333-2026, published in La Gaceta No. 215 on Thursday, November 12, 2026 (reference IN202601138583). The appointment is effective from the swearing-in until April 30, 2028.

The agreement was adopted by the majority of the Tribunal at 1:15 p.m. on November 2, 2026, in San José, and appears in the resolutions section of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of the official gazette, on pages 80 and 81. It was drafted by Magistrate Zamora Chavarría and the decision is signed by Eugenia María Zamora Chavarría, Mary Anne Mannix Arnold, and Hugo Ernesto Picado León. The Tribunal ordered that the ruling be notified to Altamirano Centeno, Cárdenas Valladares, and the Municipal Council of Los Chiles, and published in the Official Gazette.

Case Chronology

• On October 8, 2026, Altamirano Centeno signed the resignation letter from his position; the document was received by the Office Secretariat on October 16, 2026.
• The Instructing Magistrate, via an order at 9:10 a.m. on October 22, 2026, cautioned the local government to pronounce itself on the resignation.
• The council secretary, Claudia Anchía Cordero, reported via official letter No. SM-1253-2026 dated October 27, 2026, that the body acknowledged the resignation in ordinary session No. 204 on that same day.
• Altamirano Centeno had been elected as a proprietary council member by TSE resolution No. 2219-E11-2024, at 2:10 p.m. on March 12, 2024, as a candidate proposed by the National Liberation Party (PLN).

Resignation as a Right and Ground for Cancellation

The Tribunal held that Article 171 of the Political Constitution provides that council members perform their duties obligatorily, but this obligatoriness refers to the fulfillment of responsibilities while holding the office, not to the impossibility of resigning when personal or other circumstances intervene. Resignation, it added, is inherent to the fundamental right to liberty recognized in Article 20 of the Constitution and in the international human rights instruments to which Costa Rica is a party.

Based on this criterion, the resignation formulated under the terms of subsection c) of Article 24 of the Municipal Code constitutes grounds for canceling the credential. The majority warned that, if a pure and simple resignation were not accepted, the council member would be induced to incur sanctionable grounds, such as the abandonment of sessions, with evident harm to the interests of the municipal corporation.

Substitution according to the Electoral Code

Upon the cancellation of the credential, a vacancy occurred among the proprietary council seats of the council, which had to be filled according to the rules that determined the election. Article 208, second paragraph, of the Electoral Code regulates the substitution of deputies, councilors, and district councilors due to death, resignation, or incapacity, and empowers the TSE to call upon the person who obtained the most votes on the same list or the person next in line to exercise the office for the remainder of the constitutional period.

Under that rule, Carlos Felipe Cárdenas Valladares, identity card No. 206280910, a candidate for proprietary councilor proposed by the PLN who had not been elected nor designated to hold the office, was appointed.

Effect on the municipal council

The substitution modifies the composition of the Los Chiles council in the middle of the constitutional period and leaves the seat in the hands of a candidate from the same party list who had not accessed the office in the election. The new proprietary councilor will complete the remainder of the period, with a mandate extending until April 30, 2028, the date on which the corresponding constitutional period concludes.

Furthermore, the resolution recalls that the cancellation of credentials due to resignation is the exclusive competence of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, meaning that the council cannot substitute a vacant council seat on its own. With this decision, the electoral body establishes the doctrine applicable to future resignations of councilors in the 82 cantons of the country and closes the file opened last October.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 215, November 12, 2026, Supreme Electoral Tribunal — Resolutions, p. 80 (official reference: IN202601138583).