Most of the candidates in the February 2018 presidential elections announced their support for or willingness to respect the IACHR ruling, with the exception of Fabricio Alvarado, Stephanie Campos and Mario Rendondo, all of them from minor Christian parties. Other candidates had already been in favor of same-sex marriage before the IACHR ruling, including former Labor and Social Security Minister Carlos Alvarado Quesada from the governing Citizens' Action Party (PAC), left-leaning Deputy Edgardo Araya and labor union activist Jhon Vega. The rest of the candidates signaled that they were personally opposed to same-sex marriage but willing to accept the court ruling. Fabricio Alvarado, an evangelist of the National Restoration Party, claimed that the court had "violated" Costa Rica's sovereignty. In the days following the IACHR ruling, Alvarado began polling in first place with 17%, up from 3-5% prior to the ruling. Support for Carlos Alvarado, a pro-same-sex marriage candidate, also increased considerably.