Costa Rican general election, 1974

Costa Rican general election, 1974

February 3, 1974

Turnout 79%   Nominee Daniel Oduber Fernando Trejos Party National Liberation National Unification Home state San José San José Popular vote 294,609 206,149 Percentage 43.4% 30.4%

President before election José Figueres National Liberation Elected President Daniel Oduber National Liberation

General elections were held in Costa Rica on February 3, 1974.^[1] Daniel Oduber Quirós of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 79.9%.^[2]

The Left was theoretically outlawed as the Constitution didn’t allowed the existence of Marxist parties, but the prohibition was not endorsed in practice by that time and even was lifted with a Constitutional reform for the next election.^[3]

Campaign

The government was affected in its popularity by the “Vesco Case” a corruption case involving then president José Figueres and his dubious connections with international criminal Robert Vesco, which caused heat for ruling party’s candidate Daniel Oduber.^[3] Rodrigo Carazo, a former member of PLN and Congressman run as an independent candidate. Carazo had problems with Figueres when they both face each other in a primary election previously. Carazo promised to expel Vesco if he won, he also received the endorsement of former president José Trejos.^[3]

Another heated issue was Communism in general, as the election was in the middle of the Cold War. Topics like the diplomatic relationships with the USSR (which candidate Jorge González Martén swear will end in his government). The Catholic Church made a public statement criticizing both Communism and savage Capitalism and calling for a third option.^[3] Both PLN (Social Democrats) and the Christian Democratic Party claim to be that option. The traditional Left represented by Manuel Mora’s Socialist Action Party defended itself arguing that a previous archbishop Victor Manuel Sanabria expressed that Costa Rican catholics had no quarrel in being members of the Communist Party.^[3] The far-right Free Costa Rica Movement also made a very expensive campaign against Mora's party on the media at the time.^[3]

Another notorious candidate was Gerardo Wenceslao Villalobos, aka GW, a very eccentric candidate nominated by the Democratic Party. Villalobos did a lot of crazy stunts and unusual activities for a candidate, like boxing and wrestling matches or trying to jump in parachute. ^[3]

Results

President

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Daniel Oduber Quirós	National Liberation Party	294,609	43.4
Fernando Trejos Escalante	National Unification Party	206,149	30.4
Jorge Gonzáles Martén	National Independent Party	73,788	10.9
Rodrigo Carazo Odio	Democratic Renovation Party	61,820	9.1
Gerdo Villalobos Garita	Democratic Party	18,832	2.8
Manuel Mora	Socialist Action Party	16,081	2.4
Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora	Christian Democratic Party	3,461	0.5
José Francisco Auilar Bulgarelli	Costa Rican Socialist Party	3.417	0.5
Invalid/blank votes		21,183	-
Total		699,340	100
Source: Nohlen

Parliament

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
National Liberation Party	271,867	40.9	27	-5
National Unification Party	164,323	24.7	16	-6
National Independent Party	66,222	10.0	6	New
Democratic Renovation Party	51,083	7.7	3	New
Independent National Republican Party	32,475	4.9	1	New
Socialist Action Party	29,310	4.4	2	0
Democratic Party	14,161	2.1	1	New
Christian Democratic Party	13,688	2.1	0	0
Cartago Agrarian Union Party	8,074	1.2	1	+1
Costa Rican Socialist Party	6,032	0.9	0	New
Costa Rican People's Front	4,448	0.7	0	New
Independent Party	3,282	0.5	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	34,078	-	-	-
Total	699,042	100	57	0
Source: Nohlen

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
2. Nohlen, p157
3. Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1974" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2016.