Costa Rican general election, 1982

Costa Rican general election, 1982

February 7, 1982

Turnout 69.1%   Nominee Luis Alberto Monge Rafael Ángel Calderón Mario Echandi Party National Liberation Unity Coalition National Movement Home state Alajuela San José San José Popular vote 568,374 542,434 37,127 Percentage 58.8% 33.6% 3.8%

President before election Rodrigo Carazo Unity Coalition Elected President Luis Alberto Monge National Liberation

General elections were held in Costa Rica on February 7, 1982.^[1] Luis Alberto Monge of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 78.6%.^[2]

Affected by a deep economic crisis and tensions with Somoza’s Nicaragua due to Rodrigo Carazo’s support of the FSLN, Carazo’s government suffered from extremely low popularity. This naturally affected the Unity Coalition (Carazo’s party) and its candidate Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier giving to PLN and its candidate trade union leader and farmer Luis Alberto Monge a landslide victory and the party's biggest parliamentary group in its history (33 deputies). Nevertheless, Unity remained as the second most voted party in the election as Calderón was able to attract the traditional and very loyal Calderonista vote.^[3] The crisis was also beneficial for the Left as it achieved a historical high voting and four seats in Parliament (the biggest group since 1948) with Dr. Rodrigo Gutiérrez repeating candidacy from United People. Another candidate was former president Mario Echandi by the conservative and anti-Communist National Movement, but Echandi’s candidacy was testimonial receiving almost as many votes as Gutierrez (3% each), according to some due to his incapacity to understand modern times when personal wealth and family origin was not enough to win an election. ^[4]

Results

President

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Luis Alberto Monge	National Liberation Party	568,374	58.8
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier	Unity Coalition	325,187	33.6
Mario Echandi Jiménez	National Independent Movement	37,127	3.8
Rodrigo Gutiérrez Sáenz	United People	32,186	3.3
Edwin Chacón Madrigal	Independent Party	1,955	0.2
Edwin Retana Chaves	Democratic Party	1,747	0.2
Invalid/blank votes		25,103	-
Total		991,679	100
Source: Nohlen

Parliament

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
National Liberation Party	527,231	55.2	33	+8
Social Christian Unity Party	277,998	29.1	18	-9
United People	61,465	6.4	4	+1
Alajuelense Democratic Action	12,486	1.6	1	New
National Democratic Party	11,575	1.2	0	New
Cartago Agrarian Union Party	7,235	0.8	0	-1
National Independent Movement	34,437	3.6	1	+1
Costa Rican Concord Party	5,014	0.5	0	0
Independent Party	4,671	0.5	0	0
Limonese Authentic Party	3,893	0.4	0	0
People's Action Party	3,456	0.4	0	New
Democratic Party	2,672	0.3	0	0
Cartago Parliamentary Union	1,047	0.1	0	New
Partido Auténtico Puntarenense	1,036	0.1	0	0
Worker-Peasant Party	976	0.1	0	New
Progressive Liberal National Republican Party	708	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	35,576	-	-	-
Total	991,566	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. Lehoucq, Fabrice. The Politics of Modern Central America. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
4. White, Stephen; Webb, Paul. Party Politics in New Democracies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 August 2016.