1894 Costa Rican general election

The 1894 Costa Rican general election was held between 4 and 6 of February (first degree) and 1 April of that year (second degree). The election was quite controversial due to the questionable practices from the government of José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón who supported his son-in-law Rafael Yglesias using all sorts of measures to assure his victory, going as far as to even arrest his main rival.[3]

1894 Costa Rican general election

4, 5 and 6 February 1894[1] 1 April 1894[2]

Nominee Rafael Yglesias Castro José Gregorio Trejos Party Civil Catholic Union Percentage 52% 33%   Nominee Félix Arcadio Montero Monge Fadrique Gutiérrez Party Independent Democratic Party Agricultural Party Percentage 10% 2%

President before election José Joaquín Rodríguez Constitutional Elected President Rafael Yglesias Castro Civil

In the previous election Rodríguez won thanks to the endorsement of the Catholic Church and the up to that point marginalized conservatives over liberal and freemason Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra.[4] However, the intent of the then liberal government of Bernardo Soto Alfaro of almost reject the results and appoint Esquivel anyway almost caused a Catholic uprising. Ironically, this date is commemorated in Costa Rica as "Democracy's Day".[5]

After the victory, Rodríguez' party, the Constitutional Party broke away forming two new parties; the ultra-Catholic, conservative and anti-Masonic Catholic Union led by Costa Rican bishop of German origin Bernard Thiel, and the loosely liberal Civil Party led by Rodriguez' son-in-law Yglesias.[3] Rodriguez used all sorts of pressures and trick against Trejos, pressuring the Electoral College (as at the time Costa Rican elections were indirect) and forcing the results in favor of his relative. Soon after Yglesia's victory the Constitution was amended forbidding the existence of religious-based parties, thus making Catholic Union illegal.[3]

Results

Second grade electors, original estimate

Original estimate by the "Prensa Libre"

  UC (47.96%)

  PC (27.14%)

  PdP (12.06%)

  PID (10.55%)

  Unbound (2.26%)

Candidate		Party	According to the "Prensa Libre"	According to "El Heraldo"
	José Gregorio Trejos	Catholic Union	318	321
	Rafael Yglesias Castro	Civil	180	190
	Manuel de Jesús Jiménez	Party of the People	80	75
	Félix A. Montero Monge	Independent Democratic Party	70	70
	-	Unbound electors	15	7
Total			663	663
Source: [6]

Actual results

Province	Yglesias	Trejos	Montero	Gutiérrez
San José Province	52	86	29	-
Alajuela	117	5	9	-
Cartago Province	11	54	14	-
Heredia	45	18	6	-
Guanacaste	57	9	-	-
Puntarenas	3	15	-	15
Limón	13	1	4	-
Total	298	188	62	15
Source: [7]

Popular Vote Civil   52.93% Catholic Union   33.39% Ind. Democratic   11.01% Agricultural   2.66%

References

1. Obregón, Clotilde (2000). El proceso electoral y el poder ejecutivo en Costa Rica: 1808-1998. TSE. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
2. Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica (2008). "Historia de las elecciones presidenciales 1824-2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-12-21. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. Di Luca, Clara (1977). El Partido Unión Católica; primer partido ideológico de Costa Rica.
4. González, Daniel (2014). "Los partidos políticos en Costa Rica: un acercamiento histórico". Boletín de la Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios Históricos en Centroamérica. 60.
5. Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. "Celebración del 7 de noviembre: Día de la Democracia Costarricense". Retrieved 20 December 2018.
6. Salazar, O. (2003) El apogeo de la República Liberal en Costa Rica, 1870-1914, p 186 ISBN 9977-67-131-1
7. Salazar, O. (2003) El apogeo de la República Liberal en Costa Rica, 1870-1914, p 188 ISBN 9977-67-131-1