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1966 Costa Rican general election

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1966 Costa Rican general election
← 1962 6 February 1966 1970 →
Presidential election
Turnout81.40% (Increase 0.53pp)
 
Nominee José Joaquín Trejos Daniel Oduber
Party UN PLN
Popular vote 222,810 218,590
Percentage 50.48% 49.52%
Results by canton
President before election

Francisco Orlich
PLN

Elected President

José Joaquín Trejos
UN

Legislative election
All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
PLN Daniel Oduber Quirós 48.93 29 0
UN José Joaquín Trejos Fernández 43.16 26 New
UCR Frank Marshall Jiménez 5.48 2 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province
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Ballot paper

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 1966.[1] José Joaquín Trejos Fernández of the National Unification Party won the presidential election, whilst the National Liberation Party won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81%.[2]

These were very divisive elections as they had only two candidates.[3] On one hand the government party PLN nominated the Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Oduber Quirós, whilst all the right-wing opposition joined forces and former enemies Rafael Calderón and his National Republican Party (Social Christian) merged with Otilio Ulate’s National Union (Liberal-Conservative) in the National Unification Party. Calderón and Ulate were enemies during the 1948 Civil War but put aside their differences and they agree that none of them will be candidate.[3]

The National Unification Party look forward a “neutral” candidate that could unified the opposition and college professor and economist José Joaquín Trejos was selected.[3] Trejos had never hold a public office before.[3]

Left-wing opposition was outlawed as the Legislative Assembly made effective the article 98 of Costa Rica's Constitution at the time that forbid Communist parties, making illegal the only party at the left of PLN, the Popular Democratic Action (PADA) led by Manuel Mora.

The campaign was particularly ideological, as the two candidates were basically encompassing the only Right-Left options and were defenders of two very different ideologies; Oduber (and PLN) abide to democratic socialism and Trejos was conservative. The debate centered on both opposing philosophies; Trejos accused PLN of statism and been smothering the private enterprise, whilst Oduber accused Trejos of being supported by the richest of the rich and trying to bring down Costa Rica's social justice and labor laws.[3]

In one of the most hard-fought elections in Costa Rica's history, Trejos won by a small difference of around 2000 votes (one of Costa Rica's slightest differences between two candidates),[3] though PLN kept its parliamentary majority (thus many of Trejos’ reforms did not passed). Far-right Revolutionary Civic Union Party won two seats in Parliament. The results were accepted by all sides and many historians seem this election as the evidence that the dark times of civil unrest and conflict after electoral processes that end in the Civil War were put behind for good.[3]

Results

[edit]

President

[edit]
CandidatePartyVotes%
José Joaquín Trejos FernándezNational Unification Party222,81050.48
Daniel Oduber QuirósNational Liberation Party218,59049.52
Total441,400100.00
Valid votes441,40097.77
Invalid votes6,2651.39
Blank votes3,8250.85
Total votes451,490100.00
Registered voters/turnout554,62781.40
Source: Election Resources

By province

[edit]
Province Trejos % Oduber %
 San José 49.7 50.3
 Alajuela 51.4 48.9
 Cartago 48.6 51.4
 Heredia 51.2 48.8
 Puntarenas 55.7 44.3
 Limón 54.7 45.3
 Guanacaste 48.0 52.0
Total 50.5 49.5

Parliament

[edit]
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party202,89148.93290
National Unification Party178,95343.1626New
Revolutionary Civic Union22,7215.482New
Democratic Party8,5432.060New
Guanacastecan Republican Party1,5290.370New
Total414,637100.00570
Valid votes414,63791.84
Invalid votes28,7486.37
Blank votes8,0901.79
Total votes451,475100.00
Registered voters/turnout554,62781.40
Source: Election Resources

By province

[edit]
Province PLN UN UCR PD PRG
% S % S % S % S % S
 San José 49.4 10 42.3 9 7.2 2 1.1 0 - -
 Alajuela 49.2 5 44.6 5 3.1 0 3.1 0 - -
 Cartago 49.7 4 39.5 3 5.4 0 5.4 0 - -
 Heredia 49.0 2 46.1 1 2.8 0 2.0 0 - -
 Puntarenas 44.2 3 50.5 4 4.1 0 1.3 0 - -
 Limón 44.5 2 44.4 1 7.8 0 3.4 0 - -
 Guanacaste 51.5 3 38.8 3 5.5 0 0.3 0 3.9 0
Total 48.9 29 43.2 26 5.5 2 2.1 0 0.4 0

Local governments

[edit]
PartyVotes%Seats
Alderpeople+/–Municipal
syndics		+/–
National Liberation Party207,87649.321524202–78
National Unification Party195,09246.29140New132New
Revolutionary Civic Union13,9183.301New0New
Democratic Party2,8090.670New0New
Guanacastecan Republican Party1,3350.320New0New
Palmarenean Democratic Front4510.110New0New
Total421,481100.00293+18334+10
Valid votes421,48193.39
Invalid/blank votes29,8466.61
Total votes451,327100.00
Registered voters/turnout554,62781.37
Source: TSE[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. ^ Nohlen, p156
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1966" (PDF). Proyecto Atlas Electoral de Costa Rica 1953–2006 (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2016.[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1966". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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