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Costa Rican general election, 1998
Provinces won by Rodriguez in blue, Corrales in green
General elections were held in Costa Rica on 1 February 1998.[ 2] 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.[ 3]
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.[ 4] 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 .[ 5]
Results
President
Candidate
Party
Votes
%
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Social Christian Unity Party 652,160
47.1
José Miguel Corrales Bolaños National Liberation Party 618,834
44.6
Vladimir De la Cruz De Lemos Democratic Force 41,710
3.0
Walter Muñoz Céspedes National Integration Party 19,934
1.4
Sherman Thomas Jackson Costa Rican Renewal Party 19,313
1.4
Álvaro González Espinoza Democratic Party 12,952
0.9
Federico Malavassi Calvo Movimiento Libertario 5,874
0.4
Jorge González Martén National Independent Party 4,218
0.3
Alejandro Madrigal Benavides Christian National Alliance 3,545
0.3
Norma Vargas Duarte United People 3,075
0.2
Rodrigo Gutiérrez Schwanhäuser New Democratic Party 3,025
0.2
Yolanda Gutiérrez Ventura Independent Party 1,377
0.1
Invalid/blank votes
43,715
-
Total 1,431,913 100
Source: Nohlen
Popular Vote
Social Christian Unity
47.1%
National Liberation
44.6%
Democratic Force
3.0%
National Integration
1.4%
Costa Rican Renewal
1.4%
Democratic
0.9%
Libertarian Movement
0.4%
Other
1.0%
Parliament
The country was for the time still under a heavy two-party system dynamics[ 6] [ 7] [ 8] 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 [ 9] 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 for Muñoz himself.
Party
Votes
%
Seats
+/-
Social Christian Unity Party 569,792
41.2
27
+2
National Liberation Party 481,933
34.8
23
-5
Democratic Force 79,826
5.8
3
+1
Movimiento Libertario 42,640
3.1
1
New
National Integration Party 34,408
2.5
1
New
Costa Rican Renovation Party 27,892
2.0
1
New
Democratic Party 17,060
1.2
0
New
Agrarian Labour Action Party 16,955
1.2
1
+1
United People 15,028
1.2
0
New
National Independent Party 12,794
0.9
0
0
Generaleña Union 12,583
0.9
0
0
New Democratic Party 12,476
0.9
0
New
National Rescue Party 9,588
0.7
0
New
Christian National Alliance 9,176
0.7
0
0
Cartago Agrarian Union Party 7,138
0.5
0
-1
Partido Agrario Nacional
7,497
0.5
0
-1
Alajuelense Democratic Action 6,614
0.5
0
0
Independent Party 6,025
0.4
0
0
Cambio Ya
2,223
0.2
0
New
Convergencia Nacional
2,197
0.2
0
0
Limonese Authentic Party 2,167
0.2
0
0
Cartago Agrarian Force
1,892
0.1
0
New
Independent Guanacaste Party 1,623
0.1
0
0
Invalid/blank votes
47,052
-
-
-
Total 1,430,579 100 57 0
Source: Nohlen
Popular Vote
Social Christian Unity
41.2%
National Liberation
34.8%
Democratic Force
5.8%
Libertarian Movement
3.1%
National Integration
2.5%
Costa Rican Renewal
2.0%
Democratic
1.2%
Agrarian Labour Action
1.2%
United People
1.2%
Other
7.0%
Seats
Social Christian Unity
47.38%
National Liberation
40.35%
Democratic Force
5.26%
Libertarian Movement
1.75%
National Integration
1.75%
Costa Rican Renewal
1.75%
Agrarian Labour Action
1.75%
References
^ "February 1,Election Results - Costa Rica Totals" . Election Resources . Retrieved 13 March 2016 .^ Nohlen, D (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. Political Handbook of the World 2014 . Retrieved 13 March 2016 . ^ Landsford, Tom. Political Handbook of the World 2012 . Retrieved 13 March 2016 . ^ Greenspana, Eliot; Gill, Nicholas; O'Malley, Charlie; Gilsenan, Patrick; Perill, Jisel. Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2002 . ^ Lopez, Jaime (July 18, 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica" . Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016 .
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