Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

1994 Costa Rican general election

1994 Costa Rican general election

← 1990 6 February 1994 (1994-02-06) 1998 →
Presidential election
Turnout81.11% (Decrease0.70pp)
 
Candidate José María Figueres Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
Party PLN PUSC
Popular vote 739,339 711,328
Percentage 49.62% 47.74%

Results by canton

President before election

Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier
PUSC

Elected President

José María Figueres
PLN

Parliamentary election

All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
PLN José María Figueres 44.61 28 +3
PUSC Miguel Ángel Rodríguez 40.38 25 −4
PFD Vladimir de la Cruz [es] 5.32 2 +2
PUAC Juan Guillermo Brenes [es] 1.11 1 0
PAN Víctor Hugo Núñez Torres 0.92 1 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 1994.[1][2] José María Figueres of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81%.[3]

Campaign

The primary election were the main focus of controversy during the campaign, as they were particularly negative. In the case of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría made a second attempt to earn the nomination running against José Joaquín Trejos Fonseca, son of former president José Joaquín Trejos Fernández. The campaign was very ideological with Trejos accusing Rodríguez of not really being Christian Democrat nor following the ideals of Christian socialism and instead being neoliberal. Rodríguez indeed acknowledged to follow classical liberalism and advocated for small government, but without completely abandon Christian Democracy's ideas.[4]

PLN's primary was more focus on personal attacks. In it José María Figueres Olsen, son of PLN's caudillo and former president José Figueres Ferrer, faced popular anti-corruption and anti-narcotraffic deputy José Miguel Corrales, alongside other candidates like former First Lady Margarita Penón (wife of Óscar Arias) and San José Mayor Rolando Araya (nephew of former president Luis Alberto Monge). Thus, most candidates except Corrales came from important political families. Figueres' image was affected by the "Chemise Case", the allegations that he was involved in the murder of a young drug dealer while in custody during one of his father's governments.[4] Figueres sued the authors of the book accusing him, and won, but the controversy was still used by Corrales in campaign, to no avail as Figueres won the primary election. Corrales did not support him afterward.[4]

The negative campaign continue after the primaries. Rodríguez used the "Chemise Case" too and also accused Figueres of not being Catholic and belonging to the Christian Science cult, of having a military upraising due to his father's past as revolutionary caudillo and the fact that he's a West Point graduate, etc., in order to caused fear of an authoritarian government.[4] Figueres campaign on the other hand tried to show Rodríguez as a cold, heartless entrepreneur with neoliberal ideas as a counterpart to Figueres socialdemocratic ideology.[4]

Results

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
José María FigueresNational Liberation Party739,33949.62
Miguel Ángel RodríguezSocial Christian Unity Party711,32847.74
Miguel Zúñiga Díaz [es]Democratic Force28,2741.90
Rafael Ángel MatamorosChristian National Alliance Party [es]4,9800.33
Jorge González Martén [es]National Independent Party2,4260.16
Norma Vargas Duarte [es]General Union Party [es]2,1500.14
Holman Esquivel GarroteIndependent Party [es]1,6000.11
Total1,490,097100.00
Valid votes1,490,09797.65
Invalid votes30,6632.01
Blank votes5,2190.34
Total votes1,525,979100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,881,34881.11
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province Figueres % Rodríguez% Zúñiga % Matamoros % González % Vargas % Esquivel %
 San José 49.63 47.29 2.39 0.28 0.16 0.17 0.08
 Alajuela 50.30 47.41 1.71 0.29 0.13 0.08 0.09
 Cartago 50.33 46.81 2.03 0.35 0.20 0.16 0.12
 Heredia 49.89 46.91 2.57 0.27 0.14 0.13 0.08
 Guanacaste 50.03 48.66 0.62 0.26 0.14 0.08 0.20
 Puntarenas 49.06 49.09 0.75 0.59 0.19 0.21 0.12
 Limón 46.26 51.27 1.26 0.56 0.23 0.17 0.25
Total 49.62 47.74 1.90 0.33 0.16 0.14 0.11

Legislative Assembly

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party658,25844.6128+3
Social Christian Unity Party595,80240.3825–4
Democratic Force78,4545.322+2
General Union Party [es]25,4201.720–1
Christian National Alliance Party [es]21,0641.4300
People's Vanguard Party20,0261.3600
Cartago Agrarian Union Party16,3361.1110
National Agrarian Party [es]13,5890.921+1
National Independent Party12,7670.8700
Alajuelense Democratic Action11,6300.7900
Independent Party [es]9,2130.6200
Authentic Limonense Party5,4680.3700
Agrarian Labour Action Party3,8590.2600
Independent Guanacaste Party2,8430.190New
National Convergence Party8640.060New
Total1,475,593100.00570
Valid votes1,475,59396.72
Invalid votes33,7022.21
Blank votes16,3291.07
Total votes1,525,624100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,881,34881.09
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province PLN PUSC FD PUGEN ANC PVP PNI Others
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
 San José 44.21 10 39.76 9 8.30 2 2.34 0 1.53 0 1.84 0 1.50 0 0.52 0
 Alajuela 46.36 5 41.26 5 3.43 0 0.40 0 1.15 0 0.62 0 0.35 0 6.43 0
 Cartago 43.93 3 37.73 2 3.39 0 2.47 0 0.88 0 0.66 0 0.61 0 10.33 1
 Heredia 45.93 3 40.93 2 7.86 0 1.73 0 1.18 0 1.28 0 0.51 0 0.58 0
 Guanacaste 47.23 3 44.02 2 1.88 0 0.73 0 0.61 0 - - 0.43 0 5.09 0
 Puntarenas 45.81 3 43.63 3 1.85 0 2.49 0 3.33 0 2.04 0 0.55 0 0.30 0
 Limón 36.85 1 37.14 2 0.96 0 0.46 0 1.28 0 2.51 0 0.36 0 20.44 1
Total 44.61 28 40.38 25 5.32 2 1.72 0 1.43 0 1.36 0 0.87 0 4.31 2

Local governments

PartyVotes%Seats
Alderpeople+/–Municipal
syndics
+/–
National Liberation Party684,64846.36269+37323+162
Social Christian Unity Party612,91841.51232–42105–160
Democratic Force72,4124.9022+2200
General Union Party [es]24,1481.644000
People's Vanguard Party19,0691.292New0New
National Agrarian Party [es]16,6671.137+500
Alajuelense Democratic Action11,5490.783+300
National Independent Party8,7170.590000
Independent Party [es]6,0360.411000
Agrarian Labour Action Party4,9790.340–30New
Independent Guanacaste Party4,8780.332New0New
Authentic Limonense Party4,5340.311000
National Convergence Party3,5630.240New0New
New Alajuelita Party2,5840.171000
Total1,476,702100.00544+18428+2
Valid votes1,476,70296.78
Invalid/blank votes49,1703.22
Total votes1,525,872100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,691,68990.20
Source: TSE[5]

References

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. ^ Lehoucq, Fabrice Edouard (1995). "The Costa Rican general elections of 6 February 1994". Electoral Studies. 14 (1): 69–72. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(95)95770-b. ISSN 0261-3794.
  3. ^ Nohlen, p157
  4. ^ a b c d e Picado León, Hugo. "Proceso de selección de candid atos a presidente y diputados en el PLN y el PUSC (1990-2006)" (PDF). Proyecto OIR/OPAL.
  5. ^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1994". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.