| Elizabeth Bernardita Fonseca Corrales | |
| Birth Date: | 20 August 1949 |
| Birth Place: | Heredia, Costa Rica |
| Party: | Citizens' Action Party |
| Profession: | Historian and Political Organizer |
| Office: | Deputy Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica |
| Term Start: | 2006 |
| Term End: | 2010 |
| Constituency: | San José, Costa Rica |
Elizabeth Bernardita Fonseca Corrales (Heredia, 20 August 1949) was a deputy in the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2010, representing San José. Fonseca holds a doctorate in History and American Society from the University of Paris.[1] She was president of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC for its Spanish initials) in 2010.
Fonseca is a founding member of PAC. She was elected as a deputy for San José in Costa Rican general elections in 2006. She helped organize PAC's opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2006 and 2007.[2]
Following the resignation of Alberto Cañas Escalante, Fonseca and medical doctor Rodrigo Cabezas both applied for the PAC presidency Fonseca was elected, promising to raise PAC's institutional profile.[3] In 2013, Fonseca used her position to push for open primaries, which resulted in the election of Luis Guillermo Solís as PAC's presidential candidate. Solís would go on to win 78% of the national vote in the general election.
Fonseca credits PAC with breaking the nation's two-party rule by making the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC for its Spanish initials) a minority party in the National Assembly.[4] While the National Liberation Party (PLN for its Spanish initials) maintains its majority, PUSC has lost many legislative seats to PAC.
Fonseca was appointed Minister of Culture in 2014.[5]
Following the publication of her doctoral thesis in 1983, Fonseca gained significant academic recognition.[6] The topic of her thesis, agrarian and colonial history in Costa Rica, helped document the country's early history.
Fonseca has written or collaborated on the following projects and books: