1974 Costa Rican general election

1974 Costa Rican general election
	Presidential election
Turnout	79.92% ( 3.42pp)
	Results by canton
President before election; José Figueres; PLN	Elected President ; Daniel Oduber; 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 3 February 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 80%.^[2]

The Left was theoretically outlawed as the Constitution didn't allow 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	43.44
	Fernando Trejos Escalante [es]	National Unification Party	206,149	30.40
	Jorge González Martén [es]	National Independent Party	73,788	10.88
	Rodrigo Carazo Odio	Democratic Renewal Party [es]	61,820	9.12
	Gerardo Villalobos Garita	Democratic Party	18,832	2.78
	Manuel Mora Valverde	Socialist Action Party [es]	16,081	2.37
	Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora [es]	Christian Democratic Party [es]	3,461	0.51
	José Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli	Costa Rican Socialist Party [es]	3,417	0.50
Total			678,157	100.00

Valid votes			678,157	96.97
Invalid votes			16,160	2.31
Blank votes			5,023	0.72
Total votes			699,340	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			875,041	79.92
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	Oduber %	Trejos %	González %	Carazo %	Villalobos %	Mora %	Monge %	Aguilar %
Province
San José	42.7	29.4	9.0	12.2	3.8	2.0	0.5	0.5
Alajuela	45.6	28.4	12.5	9.8	1.7	1.1	0.4	0.5
Cartago	43.6	29.4	15.9	5.9	2.7	1.5	0.6	0.5
Heredia	42.9	29.9	11.0	9.5	3.0	2.5	0.7	0.4
Puntarenas	39.5	36.3	11.0	4.5	2.2	5.5	0.5	0.5
Limón	38.8	39.4	7.7	3.4	2.4	7.1	0.5	0.6
Guanacaste	49.6	30.0	11.5	4.9	0.8	2.0	0.8	0.5
Total	43.4	30.4	10.9	9.1	2.8	2.4	0.5	0.5

Parliament



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	271,867	40.88	27	–5
	National Unification Party	164,323	24.71	16	–6
	National Independent Party	66,222	9.96	6	New
	Democratic Renewal Party [es]	51,082	7.68	3	New
	National Republican Party	32,475	4.88	1	New
	Socialist Action Party [es]	29,310	4.41	2	0
	Democratic Party	14,161	2.13	1	New
	Christian Democratic Party [es]	13,688	2.06	0	–1
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	8,074	1.21	1	+1
	Costa Rican Socialist Party [es]	6,032	0.91	0	New
	Costa Rican Peoples' Front [es]	4,448	0.67	0	New
	Independent Party [es]	3,282	0.49	0	New
Total		664,964	100.00	57	0

Valid votes		664,964	95.13
Invalid votes		21,111	3.02
Blank votes		12,967	1.85
Total votes		699,042	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		875,041	79.89
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	PLN		PUN		PNI		PRD		PRN		PASO		PD		PDC		PUAC		PSC		FPCR		PI

	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	40.1	9	23.4	5	8.7	2	10.1	2	5.6	1	4.3	1	2.8	1	1.7	0	-	-	1.4	0	1.4	0	0.6	0
Alajuela	44.3	5	25.1	3	11.9	2	9.2	1	2.7	0	1.9	0	3.0	0	0.8	0	-	-	0.8	0	-	-	0.3	0
Cartago	38.1	3	23.6	2	11.9	1	3.9	0	2.7	0	2.3	0	1.3	0	3.8	0	11.1	1	0.6	0	-	-	0.7	0
Heredia	41.1	2	22.7	1	9.8	0	7.4	0	7.4	0	5.7	0	1.5	0	3.5	0	-	-	0.7	0	-	-	0.3	0
Puntarenas	38.3	3	29.8	2	10.6	1	4.0	0	5.7	0	7.3	1	1.1	0	1.4	0	-	-	0.5	0	0.8	0	0.6	0
Limón	36.9	2	32.6	1	7.1	0	2.3	0	5.0	0	13.9	0	0.9	0	0.8	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.5	0
Guanacaste	46.0	3	23.9	2	10.4	1	5.1	0	5.8	0	3.2	0	0.4	0	4.4	0	-	-	0.3	0	-	-	0.3	0
Total	40.9	27	24.7	16	10.0	6	7.7	3	4.9	1	4.4	2	2.1	1	2.1	0	1.2	1	0.9	0	0.7	0	0.5	0

Local governments


Party		Votes	%	Seats
Party		Votes	%	Alderpeople	+/–	Municipal syndics	+/–
	National Liberation Party	281,067	42.44	225	+38	350	+34
	National Unification Party	174,178	26.30	150	+17	37	–9
	National Independent Party	67,802	10.24	48	New	2	New
	Democratic Renewal Party [es]	57,036	8.61	24	New	0	New
	National Republican Party	30,551	4.61	12	New	1	New
	Socialist Action Party [es]	27,614	4.17	8	+4	0	0
	Christian Democratic Party [es]	14,215	2.15	0	–2	0	0
	Costa Rican Socialist Party [es]	4,720	0.71	0	New	0	New
	Democratic Party	2,456	0.37	0	New	0	New
	Costa Rican Peoples' Front [es]	1,588	0.24	0	New	0	New
	Independent Party [es]	1,035	0.16	0	New	0	New
Total		662,262	100.00	467	+138	390	+27

Valid votes		662,262	94.72
Invalid/blank votes		36,949	5.28
Total votes		699,211	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		875,041	79.91
Source: TSE^[4]

References

^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
^ Nohlen, p157
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1974" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1974". 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, p157

[Hernandez-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1974" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[4] "Elecciones Regidurías 1974". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

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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
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
Local elections	2002 2006 2010 2016 2020 2024
Referendums	1870 2007
See also: Elections in the Federal Republic of Central America