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1998 Costa Rican general election

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1998 Costa Rican general election

← 1994 1 February 1998 2002 →
Turnout69.99% (Decrease11.12pp)
Presidential election
 
Candidate Miguel Ángel Rodríguez José Miguel Corrales Bolaños
Party PUSC PLN
Popular vote 652,160 618,834
Percentage 46.96% 44.56%

Results by canton

President before election

José María Figueres
PLN

Elected President

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
PUSC

Parliamentary election

All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
PUSC Miguel Ángel Rodríguez 41.18 27 +2
PLN José Miguel Corrales Bolaños 34.83 23 −5
PFD Vladimir de la Cruz [es] 5.77 3 +1
PML Federico Malavassi Calvo [es] 3.08 1 New
PIN Walter Muñoz Céspedes [es] 2.78 1 New
PRC Justo Orozco 2.02 1 New
PALA Guido Octavio Vargas Artavia 1.23 1 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province

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

CandidatePartyVotes%
Miguel Ángel RodríguezSocial Christian Unity Party652,16046.96
José Miguel Corrales BolañosNational Liberation Party618,83444.56
Vladimir de la Cruz [es]Democratic Force41,7103.00
Walter Muñoz Céspedes [es]National Integration Party19,9341.44
Sherman Thomas JacksonCosta Rican Renewal Party19,3131.39
Álvaro González EspinozaDemocratic Party12,9520.93
Federico Malavassi Calvo [es]Libertarian Movement5,8740.42
Jorge González Martén [es]National Independent Party4,2180.30
Alejandro Madrigal BenavidesChristian National Alliance Party [es]3,5450.26
Norma Vargas Duarte [es]United People3,0750.22
Rodrigo Gutiérrez Schwanhäuser [es]New Democratic Party [es]3,0250.22
Marina Volio Brenes [es]National Rescue Party2,6810.19
Yolanda Gutiérrez VenturaIndependent Party [es]1,3770.10
Total1,388,698100.00
Valid votes1,388,69896.98
Invalid votes36,3182.54
Blank votes6,8970.48
Total votes1,431,913100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,045,98069.99
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province Rodríguez % Corrales % de la Cruz % Muñoz % Thomas % González % Malavassi % Other %
 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.

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Christian Unity Party569,79241.1827+2
National Liberation Party481,93334.8323–5
Democratic Force79,8265.773+1
Libertarian Movement42,6403.081New
National Integration Party38,4082.781New
Costa Rican Renewal Party27,8922.021New
Democratic Party17,0601.230New
Agrarian Labour Action Party16,9551.231+1
United People15,0281.0900
National Independent Party12,7940.9200
General Union Party [es]12,5830.9100
New Democratic Party [es]12,4760.900New
National Rescue Party9,5880.690New
Christian National Alliance Party [es]9,1760.6600
National Agrarian Party [es]7,4970.540–1
Cartago Agrarian Union Party7,1380.520–1
Alajuelense Democratic Action6,6140.4800
Independent Party [es]6,0250.4400
Change Now2,2230.160New
National Convergence Party2,1970.1600
Authentic Limonense Party2,1670.1600
Cartago Agrarian Force Party1,8920.140New
Independent Guanacaste Party1,6230.1200
Total1,383,527100.00570
Valid votes1,383,52796.71
Invalid votes32,7092.29
Blank votes14,3431.00
Total votes1,430,579100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,045,98069.92
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

PartyVotes%Seats
Alderpeople+/–Municipal
syndics
+/–
Social Christian Unity Party564,53140.87271+39295+190
National Liberation Party488,87035.39226–43145–178
Democratic Force85,3136.1824+200
Libertarian Movement33,5442.434New0New
Costa Rican Renewal Party25,6541.860New0New
National Integration Party23,8961.733New0New
Democratic Party19,2041.390New0New
Agrarian Labour Action Party15,1571.107+72+2
National Independent Party14,9751.082+200
General Union Party [es]13,3780.973–100
New Democratic Party [es]12,8040.932New0New
United People12,2160.881+100
National Rescue Party11,3850.822New0New
Escazu's Progressive Yoke9,6990.704New3New
Independent Party [es]8,0950.593+300
National Agrarian Party [es]7,8270.575–200
21st Century Curridabat5,1170.372New1New
National Convergence Party4,0440.291+100
Alajuelense Democratic Action4,0270.291–200
Party of the Sun3,6280.262New2New
Christian National Alliance Party [es]2,7870.200000
Independent Guanacaste Party2,6100.192000
Cartago Agrarian Force Party2,4300.180New0New
Authentic Limonense Party1,8710.141000
Humanist Party of Montes de Oca1,8700.141New0New
Change Now1,7900.130New0New
Independent Belemite Party1,3860.101New0New
New Alajuelita Party1,3500.101000
Humanist Party of Heredia1,1280.080New0New
Golfitenean Action Party6940.050New0New
Total1,381,280100.00569+34448+19
Valid votes1,381,28096.55
Invalid/blank votes49,3413.45
Total votes1,430,621100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,045,17369.95
Source: TSE[9]

References

  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.
  5. ^ Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483386263. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  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 (18 July 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.