1994 Costa Rican general election

1994 Costa Rican general election
	Presidential election
Turnout	81.11% (0.70pp)
	Results by canton
President before election; Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier; PUSC	Elected President ; José María Figueres; PLN
	Parliamentary election
	All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly; 29 seats needed for a majority
	Results by province

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 1994.^[1]^[2] José María Figueres of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81%.^[3]

Campaign

The primary election were the main focus of controversy during the campaign, as they were particularly negative. In the case of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría made a second attempt to earn the nomination running against José Joaquín Trejos Fonseca, son of former president José Joaquín Trejos Fernández. The campaign was very ideological with Trejos accusing Rodríguez of not really being Christian Democrat nor following the ideals of Christian socialism and instead being neoliberal. Rodríguez indeed acknowledged to follow classical liberalism and advocated for small government, but without completely abandon Christian Democracy's ideas.^[4]

PLN's primary was more focus on personal attacks. In it José María Figueres Olsen, son of PLN's caudillo and former president José Figueres Ferrer, faced popular anti-corruption and anti-narcotraffic deputy José Miguel Corrales, alongside other candidates like former First Lady Margarita Penón (wife of Óscar Arias) and San José Mayor Rolando Araya (nephew of former president Luis Alberto Monge). Thus, most candidates except Corrales came from important political families. Figueres' image was affected by the "Chemise Case", the allegations that he was involved in the murder of a young drug dealer while in custody during one of his father's governments.^[4] Figueres sued the authors of the book accusing him, and won, but the controversy was still used by Corrales in campaign, to no avail as Figueres won the primary election. Corrales did not support him afterward.^[4]

The negative campaign continue after the primaries. Rodríguez used the "Chemise Case" too and also accused Figueres of not being Catholic and belonging to the Christian Science cult, of having a military upraising due to his father's past as revolutionary caudillo and the fact that he's a West Point graduate, etc., in order to caused fear of an authoritarian government.^[4] Figueres campaign on the other hand tried to show Rodríguez as a cold, heartless entrepreneur with neoliberal ideas as a counterpart to Figueres socialdemocratic ideology.^[4]

Results

President


Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	José María Figueres	National Liberation Party	739,339	49.62
	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez	Social Christian Unity Party	711,328	47.74
	Miguel Zúñiga Díaz [es]	Democratic Force	28,274	1.90
	Rafael Ángel Matamoros	Christian National Alliance Party [es]	4,980	0.33
	Jorge González Martén [es]	National Independent Party	2,426	0.16
	Norma Vargas Duarte [es]	General Union Party [es]	2,150	0.14
	Holman Esquivel Garrote	Independent Party [es]	1,600	0.11
Total			1,490,097	100.00

Valid votes			1,490,097	97.65
Invalid votes			30,663	2.01
Blank votes			5,219	0.34
Total votes			1,525,979	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,881,348	81.11
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	Figueres %	Rodríguez%	Zúñiga %	Matamoros %	González %	Vargas %	Esquivel %
Province
San José	49.63	47.29	2.39	0.28	0.16	0.17	0.08
Alajuela	50.30	47.41	1.71	0.29	0.13	0.08	0.09
Cartago	50.33	46.81	2.03	0.35	0.20	0.16	0.12
Heredia	49.89	46.91	2.57	0.27	0.14	0.13	0.08
Guanacaste	50.03	48.66	0.62	0.26	0.14	0.08	0.20
Puntarenas	49.06	49.09	0.75	0.59	0.19	0.21	0.12
Limón	46.26	51.27	1.26	0.56	0.23	0.17	0.25
Total	49.62	47.74	1.90	0.33	0.16	0.14	0.11

Legislative Assembly



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	658,258	44.61	28	+3
	Social Christian Unity Party	595,802	40.38	25	–4
	Democratic Force	78,454	5.32	2	+2
	General Union Party [es]	25,420	1.72	0	–1
	Christian National Alliance Party [es]	21,064	1.43	0	0
	People's Vanguard Party	20,026	1.36	0	0
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	16,336	1.11	1	0
	National Agrarian Party [es]	13,589	0.92	1	+1
	National Independent Party	12,767	0.87	0	0
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	11,630	0.79	0	0
	Independent Party [es]	9,213	0.62	0	0
	Authentic Limonense Party	5,468	0.37	0	0
	Agrarian Labour Action Party	3,859	0.26	0	0
	Independent Guanacaste Party	2,843	0.19	0	New
	National Convergence Party	864	0.06	0	New
Total		1,475,593	100.00	57	0

Valid votes		1,475,593	96.72
Invalid votes		33,702	2.21
Blank votes		16,329	1.07
Total votes		1,525,624	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,881,348	81.09
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	PLN		PUSC		FD		PUGEN		ANC		PVP		PNI		Others

	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	44.21	10	39.76	9	8.30	2	2.34	0	1.53	0	1.84	0	1.50	0	0.52	0
Alajuela	46.36	5	41.26	5	3.43	0	0.40	0	1.15	0	0.62	0	0.35	0	6.43	0
Cartago	43.93	3	37.73	2	3.39	0	2.47	0	0.88	0	0.66	0	0.61	0	10.33	1
Heredia	45.93	3	40.93	2	7.86	0	1.73	0	1.18	0	1.28	0	0.51	0	0.58	0
Guanacaste	47.23	3	44.02	2	1.88	0	0.73	0	0.61	0	-	-	0.43	0	5.09	0
Puntarenas	45.81	3	43.63	3	1.85	0	2.49	0	3.33	0	2.04	0	0.55	0	0.30	0
Limón	36.85	1	37.14	2	0.96	0	0.46	0	1.28	0	2.51	0	0.36	0	20.44	1
Total	44.61	28	40.38	25	5.32	2	1.72	0	1.43	0	1.36	0	0.87	0	4.31	2

Local governments


Party		Votes	%	Seats
Party		Votes	%	Alderpeople	+/–	Municipal syndics	+/–
	National Liberation Party	684,648	46.36	269	+37	323	+162
	Social Christian Unity Party	612,918	41.51	232	–42	105	–160
	Democratic Force	72,412	4.90	22	+22	0	0
	General Union Party [es]	24,148	1.64	4	0	0	0
	People's Vanguard Party	19,069	1.29	2	New	0	New
	National Agrarian Party [es]	16,667	1.13	7	+5	0	0
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	11,549	0.78	3	+3	0	0
	National Independent Party	8,717	0.59	0	0	0	0
	Independent Party [es]	6,036	0.41	1	0	0	0
	Agrarian Labour Action Party	4,979	0.34	0	–3	0	New
	Independent Guanacaste Party	4,878	0.33	2	New	0	New
	Authentic Limonense Party	4,534	0.31	1	0	0	0
	National Convergence Party	3,563	0.24	0	New	0	New
	New Alajuelita Party	2,584	0.17	1	0	0	0
Total		1,476,702	100.00	544	+18	428	+2

Valid votes		1,476,702	96.78
Invalid/blank votes		49,170	3.22
Total votes		1,525,872	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,691,689	90.20
Source: TSE^[5]

References

^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
^ Lehoucq, Fabrice Edouard (1995). "The Costa Rican general elections of 6 February 1994". Electoral Studies. 14 (1): 69–72. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(95)95770-b. ISSN 0261-3794.
^ Nohlen, p157
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Picado León, Hugo. "Proceso de selección de candid atos a presidente y diputados en el PLN y el PUSC (1990-2006)" (PDF). Proyecto OIR/OPAL.
^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1994". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

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

[2] Lehoucq, Fabrice Edouard (1995). "The Costa Rican general elections of 6 February 1994". Electoral Studies. 14 (1): 69–72. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(95)95770-b. ISSN 0261-3794.

[3] Nohlen, p157

[Picado-4] Picado León, Hugo. "Proceso de selección de candid atos a presidente y diputados en el PLN y el PUSC (1990-2006)" (PDF). Proyecto OIR/OPAL.

[5] "Elecciones Regidurías 1994". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

[1]