1974 Costa Rican general election

3 February 1974
Presidential election
 
Nominee Daniel Oduber Fernando Trejos Escalante
Party PLN UN
Popular vote 294,609 206,149
Percentage 43.44% 30.40%

 
Nominee Jorge González Martén Rodrigo Carazo Odio
Party PNI PRD
Popular vote 73,788 61,820
Percentage 10.88% 9.12%

Results by canton

President before election

José Figueres
PLN

Elected President

Daniel Oduber
PLN

Legislative election
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
PLN Daniel Oduber Quirós 40.88 27 −5
UN Fernando Trejos Escalante 24.71 16 −6
PNI Jorge González Martén 9.96 6 New
PRD Rodrigo Carazo Odio 7.68 3 New
PRN Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier 4.88 1 New
PASO Manuel Mora Valverde 4.41 2 0
Democratic Gerardo Villalobos Garita 2.13 1 New
PUAC Juan Guillermo Brenes Castillo 1.21 1 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

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

CandidatePartyVotes%
Daniel Oduber QuirósNational Liberation Party294,60943.44
Fernando Trejos EscalanteNational Unification Party206,14930.40
Jorge González MarténNational Independent Party73,78810.88
Rodrigo Carazo OdioDemocratic Renewal Party61,8209.12
Gerardo Villalobos GaritaDemocratic Party18,8322.78
Manuel Mora ValverdeSocialist Action Party16,0812.37
Jorge Arturo Monge ZamoraChristian Democratic Party3,4610.51
José Francisco Aguilar BulgarelliCosta Rican Socialist Party3,4170.50
Total678,157100.00
Valid votes678,15796.97
Invalid votes16,1602.31
Blank votes5,0230.72
Total votes699,340100.00
Registered voters/turnout875,04179.92
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province Oduber % Trejos % González % Carazo % Villalobos % Mora % Monge % Aguilar %
 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

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party271,86740.8827–5
National Unification Party164,32324.7116–6
National Independent Party66,2229.966New
Democratic Renewal Party51,0827.683New
National Republican Party32,4754.881New
Socialist Action Party29,3104.4120
Democratic Party14,1612.131New
Christian Democratic Party13,6882.060–1
Cartago Agrarian Union Party8,0741.211+1
Costa Rican Socialist Party6,0320.910New
Costa Rican Peoples' Front4,4480.670New
Independent Party3,2820.490New
Total664,964100.00570
Valid votes664,96495.13
Invalid votes21,1113.02
Blank votes12,9671.85
Total votes699,042100.00
Registered voters/turnout875,04179.89
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

PartyVotes%Seats
Alderpeople+/–Municipal
syndics
+/–
National Liberation Party281,06742.44225+38350+34
National Unification Party174,17826.30150+1737–9
National Independent Party67,80210.2448New2New
Democratic Renewal Party57,0368.6124New0New
National Republican Party30,5514.6112New1New
Socialist Action Party27,6144.178+400
Christian Democratic Party14,2152.150–200
Costa Rican Socialist Party4,7200.710New0New
Democratic Party2,4560.370New0New
Costa Rican Peoples' Front1,5880.240New0New
Independent Party1,0350.160New0New
Total662,262100.00467+138390+27
Valid votes662,26294.72
Invalid/blank votes36,9495.28
Total votes699,211100.00
Registered voters/turnout875,04179.91
Source: TSE[4]

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. Nohlen, p157
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1974" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-16. 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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