1962 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 4 February 1962.[1] Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 80.9%.[2]

1962 Costa Rican general election
4 February 1962
Turnout80.9%
 
Nominee Francisco Orlich Rafael Calderón Otilio Ulate
Party PLN PRN PUN
Home state Alajuela San José San José
Popular vote 192,850 135,533 51,740
Percentage 50% 35.3% 13.5%
In green provinces won by Orlich, blue by Calderón
President before election

Mario Echandi
PUN

 Elected President

Francisco Orlich
PLN

Legislative election
Party Leader % Seats ±
PLN Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich 48.9% 29 +9
PRN Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia 33.5% 18 +7
PUN Otilio Ulate Blanco 13.3% 8 -2
PADP Enrique Obregón Valverde 20.5% 2 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Background

During Mario Echandi’s presidency Rafael Angel Calderón, his family and supporters in exile, were allowed to return and a general amnesty was called for everyone involved in the still recent Civil War of 1948.[3] Calderón was elected Congressman in the 1958 election. But meanwhile in the past election the National Liberation Party was split due to the separation of the “Rossist” faction in this election Calderon’s candidacy unified PLN and other political allies into a strong anti-Calderonist ballot.[3]

Both former presidents Otilio Ulate from National Union and Calderón himself from National Republican became candidates. PLN’s candidate was, as in 1958, Francisco Orlich, one of the party’s founder, commander of one of the fronts during the civil war and Figueres’ close friend.[3]

A fourth small left-wing party named Popular Democratic Action led by socialist thinker Enrique Obregón also took part in the election nominating Obregon.[3] Communism was illegal according to the Constitution and Marxist Parties were not allowed, but Obregon’s party was officially socialist so the prohibition was not endorsed. Even so, Obregón did had the support of the traditional leadership and militancy of the (outlawed) Communist Party.[3]

Campaign

All parties promised land reform. Calderon’s publicity was particular in saying “Yesterday social reform, today land reform” taking advantage of the socialist reforms during his presidency.[3] As the Cuban Revolution was recent the anti-Communist speech was common. All main parties accused each other of having links with Communism; PLN because of its socialist ideology (social democracy) and Figueres alleged friendship with Fidel Castro and Calderón because of his previous alliance with the Communists in the 1940s.[3] The far-right anti-Communist group Free Costa Rica Movement paid for a strong anti-Communist propaganda, especially against Popular Democratic Action.[3]

Results

President
Popular Vote
National Liberation
 
 50.3%
National Republican
 
 35.3%
National Union
 
 13.5%
Popular Dem. Action
 
 0.9%
Candidate Party Votes %
Francisco Orlich BolmarcichNational Liberation Party192,85050.3
Rafael Ángel Calderón GuardiaNational Republican Party135,53335.3
Otilio Ulate BlancoNational Union Party51,74013.5
Enrique Obregón ValverdePopular Democratic Action3,3390.9
Invalid/blank votes7,994–
Total391,406100
Registered voters/turnout483,98080.9
Source: Nohlen; Election Resources

By province
Province Orlich % Calderón % Ulate % Obregón %
 San José 49.1 36.7 13.3 0.9
 Alajuela 51.9 29.5 18.1 0.6
 Cartago 56.7 30.8 12.1 0.5
 Heredia 47.6 38.8 12.5 1.1
 Puntarenas 43.9 42.2 11.9 2.0
 Limón 45.0 46.7 7.3 1.0
 Guanacaste 54.4 33.3 11.7 0.6
Total 50.3 35.3 13.5 0.9

Parliament
Popular Vote
National Liberation
 
 48.9%
National Republican
 
 33.5%
National Union
 
 13.3%
Popular Dem. Action
 
 2.5%
Solidarist Action
 
 0.9%
Alajuelan
 
 0.5%
National Depuration
 
 0.3%
Guan. Independent
 
 0.2%
National Renewal
 
 0.1%
Seats
National Liberation
 
 50.8%
National Republican
 
 31.5%
National Union
 
 14.1%
Popular Dem. Action
 
 3.5%
Party Votes % Seats +/–
National Liberation Party184,13548.929+9
National Republican Party126,24933.518+8
National Union Party50,02113.38-2
Popular Democratic Action6,2562.52New
Solidarist Action Party3,3580.90New
Alajuelan Party1,6980.50New
National Depuration Movement1,1920.30New
Guanacastecan Independent Union9030.20New
National Renewal Party1250.10New
Invalid/blank votes14,543–––
Total391,40610057+12
Registered voters/turnout483,98080.9––
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province
Province PLN PRN PUN ADP PAS PA MDN UIG PREN
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
 San José 47.1 9 34.4 7 13.0 2 2.6 2 2.2 0 - - 0.8 0 - - - -
 Alajuela 50.3 6 28.0 3 17.0 2 2.3 0 - - 2.4 0 - - - - - -
 Cartago 56.2 4 29.8 2 12.8 1 1.2 0 - - - - - - - - - -
 Heredia 47.6 2 36.8 1 12.6 1 3.0 0 - - - - - - - - - -
 Puntarenas 42.9 3 40.1 2 12.1 1 4.9 0 - - - - - - - - - -
 Limón 45.3 2 44.1 1 7.0 0 2.8 0 - - - - - - - - 0.8 0
 Guanacaste 52.3 3 32.2 2 11.9 1 0.8 0 - - - - - - 2.8 0 - -
Total 48.9 29 33.5 18 13.3 8 2.5 2 0.9 0 0.5 0 0.3 0 0.2 0 0.1 0

Local governments

Vote percentage

  PLN (49.87%)
  PRN (33.78%)
  PUN (13.64%)
  ADP (1.77%)
  PAS (0.37%)
  PA (0.19%)
  UGI (0.15%)
  MDN (0.13%)
  PREN (0.11%)
Parties Popular vote Alderpeople Municipal Syndics
Votes % ±pp Total +/- Total +/-
National Liberation Party (PLN) 187,29349.87+7.34 148+23280+17
National Republican Party (PR) 126,84933.78+12.87 93+4642+19
National Union Party (PUN) 51,23913.64-10.47 31-392-30
Popular Democratic Action (ADP) 6,6431.77New 2New2New
Solidarist Action Part (PAS) 1,3710.37New 1New0New
Alajuelan Party (PA) 7240.19New 0New0New
Guanacastecan Independent Union Party (UGI) 5500.15New 0New0New
National Depuration Movement (MDN) 4700.13New 0New0New
National Renewal Party (PREN) 4160.11New 0New0New
Total 375,555100.00-275+21324+4
Invalid votes 16,1534.12
Votes cast / turnout 391,70880.93
Abstentions 92,27219.07
Registered voters 483,980100%
Sources[4]

Ballot
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References
  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. Nohlen, p156
  3. Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1962" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-16. Retrieved 13 April 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Elecciones Regidurías 1962". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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