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
Turnout	83.3%
Nominee José Figueres Mario Echandi Party PLN UN Home state Alajuela San José Popular vote 295,883 222,372 Percentage 54% 41%
Results by canton
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.

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 Ferrer	National Liberation Party	295,883	54.8
	Mario Echandi Jiménez	National Unification Party	222,372	41.2
	Virgilio Calvo Sánchez	National Front^es	9,554	1.8
	Lisímaco Leiva Cubillo	Socialist Action Party^es	7,221	1.3
	Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora	Christian Democratic Party^es	5,015	0.9
Invalid/blank votes			22,721	–
Total			562,766	100
Registered voters/turnout			675,285	83.3
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 Party	269,038	50.7	32	+3
	National Unification Party	190,387	35.9	22	-4
	Socialist Action Party^es	29,133	5.5	2	New
	National Front^es	16,392	3.1	0	New
	Christian Democratic Party^es	13,489	2.5	1	New
	National Union Party	6,105	1.2	0	New
	Costa Rican Renewal Movement	3,279	0.6	0	New
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	2,394	0.5	0	New
	Puntarenense Renewal Party	208	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		32,253	–	–	–
Total		562,678	100	57	0
Registered voters/turnout		675,285	83.3	–	–
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

Alderpeople
National Liberation			57.45%
National Unification			40.43%
Socialist Action			1.22%
Christ. Democratic			0.61%
National Front			0.30%

Municipal Syndics
National Liberation			87.05%
National Unification			12.67%
National Front			0.28%

Parties		Popular vote			Alderpeople		Municipal Syndics
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/-	Total	+/-
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	276,124	52.00	+2.68	189	+37	316	+114
	National Unification Party (PUN)	198,520	37.38	-8.91	133	-7	46	-86
	Socialist Action Party (PASO)	20,043	3.77	New	4	New	0	New
	National Front (FN)	15,704	2.96	New	1	New	1	New
	Christian Democratic Party (PDC)	13,249	2.49	New	2	New	0	New
	National Union Party (PUN)	3,908	0.74	New	0	New	0	New
	Costa Rican Renewal Movement (MRC)	2,192	0.41	New	0	New	0	New
	Desamparadenean Independent Union Party (PUDI)	1,244	0.23	New	0	New	0	New
	Puntarenense Renewal Party (PRP)	64	0.01	New	0	New	0	New
Total		531,048	100.00	-	329	+36	363	+29
Invalid votes		31,681	5.63
Votes cast / turnout		562,729	83.39
Abstentions		112,056	16.61
Registered voters		674,785	100%
Sources[4]

Ballot

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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.