1966 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 1966.[1] José Joaquín Trejos Fernández of the National Unification Party won the presidential election, whilst the National Liberation Party won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81.4%.[2]

1966 Costa Rican general election

6 February 1966
Turnout	81.4%
Nominee José Trejos Daniel Oduber Party UN PLN Home state San José San José Popular vote 222,810 218,590 Percentage 50.5% 49.5%
Provinces won by candidate
President before election Francisco Orlich PLN Elected President José Trejos UN
Legislative election
Party Leader % Seats ± PLN Daniel Oduber Quirós 50.7% 29 0 UN José Joaquín Trejos Fernández 35.9% 26 New UCR Frank Marshall Jiménez 5.5% 2 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

These were very divisive elections as they had only two candidates.[3] On one hand the government party PLN nominated the Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Oduber Quirós, whilst all the right-wing opposition joined forces and former enemies Rafael Calderón and his National Republican Party (Social Christian) merged with Otilio Ulate’s National Union (Liberal-Conservative) in the National Unification Coalition. Calderón and Ulate were enemies during the 1948 Civil War but put aside their differences and they agree that none of them will be candidate.[3]

The Coalition look forward a “neutral” candidate that could unified the opposition and college professor and economist José Joaquín Trejos was selected.[3] Trejos had never hold a public office before.[3]

Left-wing opposition was outlawed as the Legislative Assembly made effective the article 98 of Costa Rica’s Constitution at the time that forbid Communist parties, making illegal the only party at the left of PLN, the Popular Democratic Action (PADA) led by Manuel Mora.

The campaign was particularly ideological, as the two candidates were basically encompassing the only Right-Left options and were defenders of two very different ideologies; Oduber (and PLN) abide to democratic socialism and Trejos was conservative. The debate centered on both opposing philosophies; Trejos accused PLN of statism and been smothering the private enterprise, whilst Oduber accused Trejos of been a supported by the richest of the rich and trying to bring down Costa Rica’s social justice and labor laws.[3]

In one of the most hard-fought elections in Costa Rica’s history, Trejos won by a small difference of around 2000 votes (one of Costa Rica’s slightest differences between two candidates),[3] though PLN kept its parliamentary majority (thus many of Trejos’ reforms did not passed). Far-right Revolutionary Civic Union Party won two seats in Parliament. The results were accepted by all sides and many historians seem this election as the evidence that the dark times of civil unrest and conflict after electoral processes that end in the Civil War were put behind for good.[3]

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	José Joaquín Trejos Fernández	National Unification Coalition	222,810	50.5
	Daniel Oduber Quirós	National Liberation Party	218,590	49.5
Invalid/blank votes			10,090	–
Total			451,490	100
Registered voters/turnout			554,627	81.4
Source: Nohlen; Election Resources

By province

Province	Trejos %	Oduber %
San José	49.7	50.3
Alajuela	51.4	48.9
Cartago	48.6	51.4
Heredia	51.2	48.8
Puntarenas	55.7	44.3
Limón	54.7	45.3
Guanacaste	48.0	52.0
Total	50.5	49.5

Popular Vote National Unification   50.5% National Liberation   49.5%

Parliament

Popular Vote
National Liberation			48.9%
National Unification			43.2%
Rev. Civic Union			5.5%
Democratic			2.1%
Guan. Republican			0.4%

Seats
National Liberation			50.8%
National Unification			45.6%
Rev. Civic Union			3.5%

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	202,891	48.9	29	0
	National Unification Coalition	178,953	43.2	26	New
	Revolutionary Civic Union	22,721	5.5	2	New
	Democratic Party	8,543	2.1	0	New
	Guanacastecan Republican Party	1,529	0.4	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		36,838	–	–	–
Total		451,490	100	57	0
Registered voters/turnout		554,627	81.4	–	–
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province

Province	PLN		CUN		UCR		PD		PRG
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	49.4	10	42.3	9	7.2	2	1.1	0	-	-
Alajuela	49.2	5	44.6	5	3.1	0	3.1	0	-	-
Cartago	49.7	4	39.5	3	5.4	0	5.4	0	-	-
Heredia	49.0	2	46.1	1	2.8	0	2.0	0	-	-
Puntarenas	44.2	3	50.5	4	4.1	0	1.3	0	-	-
Limón	44.5	2	44.4	1	7.8	0	3.4	0	-	-
Guanacaste	51.5	3	38.8	3	5.5	0	0.3	0	3.9	0
Total	48.9	29	43.2	26	5.5	2	2.1	0	0.4	0

Local governments

Vote percentage

  PLN (49.32%)

  CUN (46.29%)

  UCR (3.30%)

  PD (0.67%)

  PRG (0.32%)

  FDP (0.11%)

Parties		Popular vote			Alderpeople		Municipal Syndics
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/-	Total	+/-
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	207,876	49.32	-0.55	152	+4	202	-78
	National Unification Coalition (CUN)	195,092	46.29	New	140	New	132	New
	Civic Revolutionary Union (UCR)	13,918	3.30	New	1	New	0	New
	Democratic Party (PD)	2,809	1.77	New	0	New	0	New
	Guanacastecan Republican Party (PRG)	1,335	0.37	New	0	New	0	New
	Palmarenean Democratic Front (FDP)	451	0.19	New	0	New	0	New
Total		421,481	100.00	-	293	+18	334	+10
Invalid votes		29,846	6.61
Votes cast / turnout		451,327	81.37
Abstentions		103,300	18.63
Registered voters		554,627	100%
Sources[4]

Ballot

• 

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 1966" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. "Elecciones Regidurías 1966". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.