1970 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 1 February 1970.[1] Former President José Figueres Ferrer of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 83.3%.[2]

1970 Costa Rican general election
1 February 1970
Turnout83.3%
 
Nominee José Figueres Mario Echandi
Party PLN UN
Home state Alajuela San José
Popular vote 295,883 222,372
Percentage 54% 41%
In green provinces won by Figueres
President before election

José Joaquín Trejos Fernández
UN

 Elected President

José Figueres
PLN

Legislative election
Party Leader % Seats ±
PLN José Figueres Ferrer 50.7% 32 +2
UN Mario Echandi Jiménez 35.9% 22 -4
PASO Lisímaco Leiva Cubillo 5.5% 2 New
PDC Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora 2.5% 1 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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On 25 June 1969, the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica reformed the Constitution to prohibit presidential reelection, but as any legal reform was retroactive, all previous presidents could be candidates one more time.[3] Two former presidents José Figueres Ferrer and Mario Echandi Jiménez were the two main candidates in the election.

Echandi was nominated by then ruling party National Unification (PUN), a right-wing conservative party made out of the merger of the Republicans (Calderonistas) and the National Union (Ulatistas). However, the union was starting to break and Ulate unsuccessfully presented a separate list of Unification candidates for Congress.[3] In the main opposition force and by then dominant-party PLN, the nominee had been the historical leader and twice president before José Figueres. Figueres was selected after a primary election (or National Convention as they're known in Costa Rica) in which he defeated then Congressman and former Secretary General of the party, Rodrigo Carazo. The convention was particularly harsh and after the results, Figueres did not include any of Carazo supporters in power positions (as was a traditional courtesy), something that future president Carazo resented and which caused him to eventually leave the party.[3]

National Unification’s forces, however, weren’t in better conditions. Ulate did not endorse Echandi and left the coalition.[3] Others that left were Virgilio Calvo and Mariano Zúñiga from the Calderonist faction that made their own new party, the National Front (aka “Third Front”). Ulate promised them the support of this party, but PUN’s General Assembly did not follow his lead and endorsed Echandi’s candidacy. The group had minimal impact in the election.[3]

Other minor parties were the Christian Democratic Party, led by physician Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora, and the Socialist Action Party led by former PLN member Marcial Aguiluz Orellana and historical Communist leader Manuel Mora. Communism was still illegal at the time, but the prohibition was flexible on non-explicitly Marxist parties, and several leaders were already questioning the antidemocratic nature of the measure and calling for it to be lifted, including Figueres himself.

Figueres won by a very broad margin over Echandi, 54% over 41%, and his party, the PLN, won a majority in Parliament. Socialists and Christian Democrats also achieved representation.

Results

President
Candidate Party Votes %
José Figueres FerrerNational Liberation Party295,88354.8
Mario Echandi JiménezNational Unification Party222,37241.2
Virgilio Calvo SánchezNational Frontes9,5541.8
Lisímaco Leiva CubilloSocialist Action Partyes7,2211.3
Jorge Arturo Monge ZamoraChristian Democratic Partyes5,0150.9
Invalid/blank votes22,721–
Total562,766100
Registered voters/turnout675,28583.3
Source: Nohlen; Election Resources

By province
Province Figueres % Echandi % Calvo % Leiva % Monge %
 San José 55.1 40.3 1.8 1.6 1.3
 Alajuela 54.6 42.2 2.0 0.7 0.6
 Cartago 59.6 37.2 1.5 0.9 0.8
 Heredia 52.3 42.9 2.0 1.3 1.5
 Puntarenas 50.6 44.9 1.8 2.4 0.4
 Limón 48.1 47.5 1.7 2.4 0.3
 Guanacaste 57.0 40.5 1.4 0.7 0.4
Total 54.8 41.2 1.8 1.3 0.9
Popular Vote
National Liberation
 
 54.8%
National Unification
 
 41.2%
National Front
 
 1.8%
Socialist Action
 
 1.3%
Christian Democratic
 
 0.9%

Parliament
Popular Vote
National Liberation
 
 50.7%
National Unification
 
 35.9%
Socialist Action
 
 5.5%
National Front
 
 3.1%
Christian Democratic
 
 2.5%
National Union
 
 1.2%
Costa Rica Ren. Mov.
 
 0.6%
Cartago Agrarian Union
 
 0.5%
Puntarenense Renewal
 
 0.1%
Seats
National Liberation
 
 56.2%
National Unification
 
 38.6%
Socialist Action
 
 3.5%
Christian Democratic
 
 1.7%
Party Votes % Seats +/–
National Liberation Party269,03850.732+3
National Unification Party190,38735.922-4
Socialist Action Partyes29,1335.52New
National Frontes16,3923.10New
Christian Democratic Partyes13,4892.51New
National Union Party6,1051.20New
Costa Rican Renewal Movement3,2790.60New
Cartago Agrarian Union Party2,3940.50New
Puntarenense Renewal Party2080.10New
Invalid/blank votes32,253–––
Total562,678100570
Registered voters/turnout675,28583.3––
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province
Province PLN PUN PASO FN PDC PUN MRC PUAC PRP
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
 San José 50.3 11 33.8 7 7.9 2 2.5 0 3.5 1 1.4 0 0.7 0 - - - -
 Alajuela 52.3 6 38.5 4 2.4 0 3.9 0 1.4 0 1.3 0 0.2 0 - - - -
 Cartago 53.8 4 32.0 3 3.0 0 2.4 0 3.4 0 0.7 0 0.7 0 4.0 0 - -
 Heredia 48.2 2 37.2 1 5.4 0 4.3 0 4.0 0 0.4 0 0.4 0 - - - -
 Puntarenas 47.1 4 40.1 3 6.2 0 3.2 0 0.7 0 0.8 0 1.1 0 - - 0.4 0
 Limón 44.2 2 41.3 1 9.9 0 3.2 0 0.4 0 0.7 0 0.3 0 - - - -
 Guanacaste 54.0 3 37.5 3 1.5 0 4.1 0 0.8 0 1.3 0 0.9 0 - - - -
Total 50.7 32 35.9 22 5.5 2 3.1 0 2.5 1 1.2 0 0.6 0 0.5 0 0.1 0

Local governments

Vote percentage

  PLN (52.00%)
  PUN (37.38%)
  PASO (3.77%)
  FN (2.96%)
  PDC (2.49%)
  PUN (0.74%)
  MRC (0.41%)
  PUDI (0.23%)
  PRP (0.01%)
Parties Popular vote Alderpeople Municipal Syndics
Votes % ±pp Total +/- Total +/-
National Liberation Party (PLN) 276,12452.00+2.68 189+37316+114
National Unification Party (PUN) 198,52037.38-8.91 133-746-86
Socialist Action Party (PASO) 20,0433.77New 4New0New
National Front (FN) 15,7042.96New 1New1New
Christian Democratic Party (PDC) 13,2492.49New 2New0New
National Union Party (PUN) 3,9080.74New 0New0New
Costa Rican Renewal Movement (MRC) 2,1920.41New 0New0New
Desamparadenean Independent Union Party (PUDI) 1,2440.23New 0New0New
Puntarenense Renewal Party (PRP) 640.01New 0New0New
Total 531,048100.00-329+36363+29
Invalid votes 31,6815.63
Votes cast / turnout 562,72983.39
Abstentions 112,05616.61
Registered voters 674,785100%
Sources[4]

Ballot
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gollark: Has anyone tested the offline mode by the way? I only did a bit of local testing.

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 1970" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 13 April 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Elecciones Regidurías 1970". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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