1970 Costa Rican general election

1970 Costa Rican general election
	Presidential election
Turnout	83.34% ( 1.94pp)
	Results by canton
President before election; José Joaquín Trejos Fernández; UN	Elected President ; José Figueres Ferrer; PLN
	Legislative 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 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%.^[2]

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	54.79
	Mario Echandi Jiménez	National Unification Party	222,372	41.18
	Virgilio Calvo Sánchez [es]	National Front [es]	9,554	1.77
	Lisímaco Leiva Cubillo	Socialist Action Party [es]	7,221	1.34
	Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora [es]	Christian Democratic Party [es]	5,015	0.93
Total			540,045	100.00

Valid votes			540,045	95.96
Invalid votes			18,153	3.23
Blank votes			4,568	0.81
Total votes			562,766	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			675,285	83.34
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	Figueres %	Echandi %	Calvo %	Leiva %	Monge %
Province
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

Parliament



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	269,038	50.72	32	+3
	National Unification Party	190,387	35.89	22	–4
	Socialist Action Party [es]	29,133	5.49	2	New
	National Front [es]	16,392	3.09	0	New
	Christian Democratic Party [es]	13,489	2.54	1	New
	National Union Party	6,105	1.15	0	New
	Costa Rican Renewal Movement	3,279	0.62	0	New
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	2,394	0.45	0	New
	Puntarenense Renewal Party	208	0.04	0	New
Total		530,425	100.00	57	0

Valid votes		530,425	94.27
Invalid votes		21,380	3.80
Blank votes		10,873	1.93
Total votes		562,678	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		675,285	83.32
Source: 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


Party		Votes	%	Seats
Party		Votes	%	Alderpeople	+/–	Municipal syndics	+/–
	National Liberation Party	276,124	52.00	189	+37	316	+114
	National Unification Party	198,520	37.38	133	–7	46	–86
	Socialist Action Party [es]	20,043	3.77	4	New	0	New
	National Front [es]	15,704	2.96	1	New	1	New
	Christian Democratic Party [es]	13,249	2.49	2	New	0	New
	National Union Party	3,908	0.74	0	New	0	New
	Costa Rican Renewal Movement	2,192	0.41	0	New	0	New
	Desamparadenean Independent Union Party	1,244	0.23	0	New	0	New
	Puntarenense Renewal Party	64	0.01	0	New	0	New
Total		531,048	100.00	329	+36	363	+29

Valid votes		531,048	94.37
Invalid/blank votes		31,681	5.63
Total votes		562,729	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		674,785	83.39
Source: TSE^[4]

References

^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
^ Nohlen, p156
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1970" (PDF). Proyecto Atlas Electoral de Costa Rica 1953–2006 (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1970". 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] Nohlen, p156

[Hernandez-3] Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1970" (PDF). Proyecto Atlas Electoral de Costa Rica 1953–2006 (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

[4] "Elecciones Regidurías 1970". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Elections and referendums in Costa Rica
Presidential elections	1825 1829 1833 1835 1837 1844 1847 1849 1853 1859 1860 1863 1866 1869 1872 1876 1882 1886 1889 1894 1897 1902 1906 1910 1913 1917 1919 1923 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1953 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Parliamentary elections	1849 1853 1859 1860 1863 1866 1869 1872 1876 1882 1886 1889 1894 1897 1902 1906 1910 1913 1915 1917 1919 (Mar) 1919 (Dec) 1921 1923 1925 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 (Feb) 1948 (Dec) 1949 1953 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Local elections	2002 2006 2010 2016 2020 2024
Referendums	1870 2007
See also: Elections in the Federal Republic of Central America