1998 Costa Rican general election

1998 Costa Rican general election
	1 February 1998
	Presidential election
	Results by canton
President before election; José María Figueres; PLN	Elected President ; Miguel Ángel Rodríguez; PUSC
	Parliamentary election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 1 February 1998.[1] Miguel Ángel Rodríguez of the Social Christian Unity Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 70%, the lowest since the 1950s.[2]

An economic recession, a teachers' strike due to a pensions' reform and some corruption scandals made President José María Figueres' government highly unpopular. Thus, government endorsed candidate José Miguel Corrales tried to distance himself from Figueres as much as possible. Corrales won over former President of Congress Jorge Walter Coto Molina in PLN's primaries but the discovery of Voter fraud damaged PLN's image and split the party.[3] On the contrary in PUSC, previous candidate Miguel Ángel Rodríguez was seen as the natural nominee for this election, and despite the fact that deputy Luis Fishman was rumored as a possible internal opponent, he finally declined and Rodríguez was nominated without the need of primaries, thus keeping the party united. During Figueres' administration the so call Figueres-Calderón Pact was signed between the leaders of the two main parties (and sons of the two caudillos of the 1948 civil war); him and Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (Rodríguez political rival) to approve several mutually beneficial laws for both major parties, something that caused outrage among large segments of the population and started the downfall of the two-party system.[4]

Results


Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez	Social Christian Unity Party	652,160	46.96
	José Miguel Corrales Bolaños	National Liberation Party	618,834	44.56
	Vladimir de la Cruz	Democratic Force	41,710	3.00
	Walter Muñoz Céspedes	National Integration Party	19,934	1.44
	Sherman Thomas Jackson	Costa Rican Renewal Party	19,313	1.39
	Álvaro González Espinoza	Democratic Party	12,952	0.93
	Federico Malavassi Calvo	Libertarian Movement	5,874	0.42
	Jorge González Martén	National Independent Party	4,218	0.30
	Alejandro Madrigal Benavides	Christian National Alliance Party	3,545	0.26
	Norma Vargas Duarte	United People	3,075	0.22
	Rodrigo Gutiérrez Schwanhäuser	New Democratic Party	3,025	0.22
	Marina Volio Brenes	National Rescue Party	2,681	0.19
	Yolanda Gutiérrez Ventura	Independent Party	1,377	0.10
Total			1,388,698	100.00

Valid votes			1,388,698	96.98
Invalid votes			36,318	2.54
Blank votes			6,897	0.48
Total votes			1,431,913	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			2,045,980	69.99
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	Rodríguez %	Corrales %	de la Cruz %	Muñoz %	Thomas %	González %	Malavassi %	Other %
Province
San José	42.94	46.72	3.33	2.16	1.81	1.15	0.58	1.31
Alajuela	46.86	45.67	3.13	0.96	1.21	0.92	0.30	0.95
Cartago	44.35	47.69	3.16	1.37	0.81	0.99	0.29	1.34
Heredia	43.39	46.35	3.45	1.63	2.12	1.41	0.35	1.30
Guanacaste	55.63	40.61	1.76	0.30	0.58	0.14	0.15	0.83
Puntarenas	56.23	38.57	1.88	0.47	0.52	0.26	0.40	1.67
Limón	59.58	32.18	2.62	0.88	1.51	0.63	0.54	2.06
Total	46.96	44.56	3.00	1.44	1.39	0.93	0.42	1.30

Parliament

The country was for the time still under a heavy two-party system dynamics[5][6][7] and the two main parties at the time; National Liberation Party and Social Christian Unity Party won most of the votes. Nevertheless, some third forces also won seats on the Parliament, among them left-wing Democratic Force won two seats. It was also the first time that liberal Libertarian Movement and Christian conservative[8] Costa Rican Renewal won seats (one each) in the Parliament both for their future presidential candidates Otto Guevara and Justo Orozco respectively. The small party National Integration Party led by medic Walter Muñoz won its only seat in history until the 2018 election.



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Christian Unity Party	569,792	41.18	27	+2
	National Liberation Party	481,933	34.83	23	–5
	Democratic Force	79,826	5.77	3	+1
	Libertarian Movement	42,640	3.08	1	New
	National Integration Party	38,408	2.78	1	New
	Costa Rican Renewal Party	27,892	2.02	1	New
	Democratic Party	17,060	1.23	0	New
	Agrarian Labour Action Party	16,955	1.23	1	+1
	United People	15,028	1.09	0	0
	National Independent Party	12,794	0.92	0	0
	General Union Party	12,583	0.91	0	0
	New Democratic Party	12,476	0.90	0	New
	National Rescue Party	9,588	0.69	0	New
	Christian National Alliance Party	9,176	0.66	0	0
	National Agrarian Party	7,497	0.54	0	–1
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	7,138	0.52	0	–1
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	6,614	0.48	0	0
	Independent Party	6,025	0.44	0	0
	Change Now	2,223	0.16	0	New
	National Convergence Party	2,197	0.16	0	0
	Authentic Limonense Party	2,167	0.16	0	0
	Cartago Agrarian Force Party	1,892	0.14	0	New
	Independent Guanacaste Party	1,623	0.12	0	0
Total		1,383,527	100.00	57	0

Valid votes		1,383,527	96.71
Invalid votes		32,709	2.29
Blank votes		14,343	1.00
Total votes		1,430,579	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,045,980	69.92
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	PUSC		PLN		FD		ML		PIN		PRC		PD		PU		Others

	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	37.60	8	36.21	8	7.31	2	4.64	1	4.69	1	2.44	1	1.60	0	0.88	0	4.63	0
Alajuela	40.89	4	35.52	4	5.20	1	1.40	0	1.30	0	1.38	0	1.08	0	0.41	0	12.82	1
Cartago	39.39	3	36.49	3	5.14	0	1.71	0	2.08	0	0.97	0	1.15	0	1.75	0	11.32	0
Heredia	39.20	3	35.85	2	7.12	0	2.45	0	3.22	0	2.48	0	1.76	0	1.12	0	6.80	0
Guanacaste	50.05	3	33.66	2	4.19	0	1.08	0	0.55	0	3.10	0	0.21	0	0.62	0	6.54	0
Puntarenas	50.50	4	32.42	2	3.05	0	3.95	0	0.97	0	1.16	0	0.70	0	1.60	0	5.65	0
Limón	47.71	2	24.30	2	2.70	0	3.29	0	1.11	0	2.49	0	0.74	0	2.88	0	14.78	0
Total	41.18	27	34.83	23	5.77	3	3.08	1	2.78	1	2.02	1	1.23	0	1.09	0	8.02	1

Local governments


Party		Votes	%	Seats
Party		Votes	%	Alderpeople	+/–	Municipal syndics	+/–
	Social Christian Unity Party	564,531	40.87	271	+39	295	+190
	National Liberation Party	488,870	35.39	226	–43	145	–178
	Democratic Force	85,313	6.18	24	+2	0	0
	Libertarian Movement	33,544	2.43	4	New	0	New
	Costa Rican Renewal Party	25,654	1.86	0	New	0	New
	National Integration Party	23,896	1.73	3	New	0	New
	Democratic Party	19,204	1.39	0	New	0	New
	Agrarian Labour Action Party	15,157	1.10	7	+7	2	+2
	National Independent Party	14,975	1.08	2	+2	0	0
	General Union Party	13,378	0.97	3	–1	0	0
	New Democratic Party	12,804	0.93	2	New	0	New
	United People	12,216	0.88	1	+1	0	0
	National Rescue Party	11,385	0.82	2	New	0	New
	Escazu's Progressive Yoke	9,699	0.70	4	New	3	New
	Independent Party	8,095	0.59	3	+3	0	0
	National Agrarian Party	7,827	0.57	5	–2	0	0
	21st Century Curridabat	5,117	0.37	2	New	1	New
	National Convergence Party	4,044	0.29	1	+1	0	0
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	4,027	0.29	1	–2	0	0
	Party of the Sun	3,628	0.26	2	New	2	New
	Christian National Alliance Party	2,787	0.20	0	0	0	0
	Independent Guanacaste Party	2,610	0.19	2	0	0	0
	Cartago Agrarian Force Party	2,430	0.18	0	New	0	New
	Authentic Limonense Party	1,871	0.14	1	0	0	0
	Humanist Party of Montes de Oca	1,870	0.14	1	New	0	New
	Change Now	1,790	0.13	0	New	0	New
	Independent Belemite Party	1,386	0.10	1	New	0	New
	New Alajuelita Party	1,350	0.10	1	0	0	0
	Humanist Party of Heredia	1,128	0.08	0	New	0	New
	Golfitenean Action Party	694	0.05	0	New	0	New
Total		1,381,280	100.00	569	+34	448	+19

Valid votes		1,381,280	96.55
Invalid/blank votes		49,341	3.45
Total votes		1,430,621	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,045,173	69.95
Source: TSE[9]

References

Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
Nohlen, pp156-157
Fernández, Oscar Costa Rica. La reafirmación del bipartidismo Revista Nueva Sociedad No.131, PP. 4-10
"Copia archivada". Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483386263. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
Landsford, Tom (2 April 2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012. ISBN 9781608719952. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
Greenspana, Eliot; Gill, Nicholas; O'Malley, Charlie; Gilsenan, Patrick; Perill, Jisel. Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2002. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Lopez, Jaime (July 18, 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica". Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
"Elecciones Regidurías 1998". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

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[DN-1] Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6

[2] Nohlen, pp156-157

[3] Fernández, Oscar Costa Rica. La reafirmación del bipartidismo Revista Nueva Sociedad No.131, PP. 4-10

[4] "Copia archivada". Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

[Landsford-5] Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483386263. Retrieved 13 March 2016.

[Landsford_2-6] Landsford, Tom (2 April 2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012. ISBN 9781608719952. Retrieved 13 March 2016.

[7] Greenspana, Eliot; Gill, Nicholas; O'Malley, Charlie; Gilsenan, Patrick; Perill, Jisel. Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2002. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[8] Lopez, Jaime (July 18, 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica". Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016.

[9] "Elecciones Regidurías 1998". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

Elections and referendums in Costa Rica
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See also: Elections in the Federal Republic of Central America