2014 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on Sunday, 2 February 2014 to elect a new president, two vice presidents, and 57 Legislative Assembly lawmakers.[1] In accordance with Article 132 of the constitution, incumbent President Laura Chinchilla Miranda was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term.[2]

2014 Costa Rican general election

← 20102 February 2014 (first round)
6 April 2014 (second round)
2018 →
Presidential election
Turnout68.48% (first round)
56.50% (second round)
 
NomineeLuis Guillermo SolísJohnny Araya
PartyPACPLN
Running mateHelio Fallas
Ana Helena Chacón
Jorge Pattoni
Silvia Lara
Popular vote1,338,321374,844
Percentage77.77%22.23%


President before election

Laura Chinchilla
PLN

Elected President

Luis Guillermo Solís
PAC

Legislative election

All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader%Seats+/–
PLNJohnny Araya Monge25.7118−6
PACLuis Guillermo Solís Rivera23.4813+2
FAJosé María Villalta Florez-Estrada13.149+8
PUSCRodolfo Piza Rocafort10.028+2
PMLOtto Guevara Guth7.944−5
PRCJusto Orozco Álvarez4.112+1
PRENCarlos Avendaño Calvo4.0610
PASEÓscar Andrés López Arias3.971−3
ADCMario Redondo Poveda1.171New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province

The ruling National Liberation Party put forward San José Mayor Johnny Araya Monge as its presidential candidate; the Libertarian Movement party nominated former legislator Otto Guevara Guth; the leftist Broad Front nominated José María Villalta Florez-Estrada; and the center-left Citizens' Action Party nominated Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera.

Opinion polls in December 2013 showed Araya ahead with 37 percent, Villalta close behind at 32 percent, Guevara at 15 percent, and Solís trailing at eight percent, suggesting the likelihood of a run-off vote in February.[3][4] Villalta's strong showing in the polls caused concern among Araya supporters and business leaders in Costa Rica. La Nacion, Costa Rica's most important newspaper and a historical ally of Liberacion Nacional, began a concerted series of attacks against Villalta, comparing him to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. Political experts later concluded that this focus on Villalta helped Luis Guillermo Solis in the election.[5]

In the presidential election, Solís and Araya came first and second, respectively, with neither candidate reaching 40 percent of the valid poll in the first round of voting, so a second round of voting was held from 6am to 6pm on 6 April, the first run-off election since 2002.[3][6]

In a surprise move, Araya announced on 6 March that he would abandon his campaign for the run-off election. He stated that after weighing his chances it was only sensible to withdraw from the campaign. Recent polls had indicated that he was trailing badly behind Solís and he believed that spending money on campaigning was not prudent. Although Araya's action effectively handed the presidency to Solís, the run-off still had to take place since Costa Rican law does not allow for a candidate to withdraw from a run-off election.[7] Ultimately, Solís won the second round with 78 percent of the vote, a historic high in Costa Rica.[8][9] Unlike the first round, Solís won a majority in every province.[10]

Presidential candidates

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There were thirteen political parties on the 2014 ballot, each one with their corresponding ticket of a president and two vice-presidents.[11]

PartyPresidentFirst VicepresidentSecond Vicepresident
Citizens' Action PartyLuis Guillermo Solís

Foreign Ministry's Chief of Staff (1986-1990), Ambassador of Central American Affairs (1994-1998)

Helio Fallas

Minister of Planning (1990-1994), Minister of Housing (2002-2006)

Ana Helena Chacón

Vice Minister of Public Safety (2002-2006), Deputy (2006-2010)

National Liberation PartyJohnny Araya

San José Mayor (1998- )

Jorge Pattoni

General Manager Dos Pino's Corporation (1992-2013)

Silvia Lara

President of Joint Social Welfare Institute (2002-2006)

Broad FrontJosé María Villalta Florez-Estrada

Deputy (2010–2014)

María Dagmare Facio FernándezWalter Antillón Montealegre
Libertarian MovementOtto Guevara

Deputy
(1998–2002)

Thelmo Vargas MadrigalAbriel Gordienko López
Social Christian Unity PartyRodolfo Emilio Piza de Rocafort

Executive President of Costa Rican Department of Social Security (1998–2002)

Carlos Eduardo Araya GuillénPatricia Vega Herrera
New Homeland PartyJosé Miguel Corrales Bolaños

Deputy (2002–2006)

Lizbeth Dora Quesada TristánÓscar Aguilar Bulgarelli
National Restoration PartyCarlos Luis Avendaño CalvoRose Mary Zúñiga RamírezPablo Josué Chaves Illanes
Costa Rican Renewal PartyJusto Orozco ÁlvarezAna Dinorah Rodríguez RojasRafael Ángel Matamoros Mesén
Accessibility without Exclusion (PASE)Óscar Andrés López AriasZulema Villalta BolañosMarvin Alberto Marín Zúñiga
New Generation PartySergio Mena DíazLuz Mary Alpízar LoaizaCarlos Francisco Moreno Bustos
Workers' Party (PT)Héctor Enrique Monestel HerreraJessica Barquero BarrantesGreivis González López
National Advance PartyJosé Manuel Echandi MezaCarmen Lidia Pérez RamírezGabriel Zamora Márquez
National Integration PartyWalter Muñoz CéspedesVivian González TrejosRodrigo Arguedas Cortés

Opinion polls

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If no candidate surmounts the 40% threshold, the two candidates who would qualify for the runoff are marked. No poll accurately predicted the first or second round voting results.

DatePollster

Johnny Araya
(PLN)

Otto Guevara
(ML)

Rodolfo Piza
(R. Hernández before October 2013)
(PUSC)

L.G. Solís
(PAC)

J.M. Villalta
(FA)

Others

Aug 2013Borge y Asociados[12]52%9.7%23%8.2%3.5%
Aug 2013CIEP[13]20.2%1.4%12.4%4.1%4.5%
Sep 2013Unimer[14]27.5%9.7%10.6%4.4%19%26%
Oct 2013CIEP[15]24%9.9%3%4%9.7%1.3%
Nov 2013Borge y Asociados[16]26%16%4%4%19%26%
Nov 2013Cid Gallup[17]45%15%8%10%21%
Dec 2013Unimer[4]19%19%5%8%22%11%
Dec 2013CIEP[18]17%10%3%5%15%1%
Dec 2013Cid Gallup[19]37%15%5%9%32%
14 Jan 2014Cid Gallup[20]39%18%5%7%26%
16 Jan 2014Unimer[21]20.3%20.2%3.6%5.4%22.2%5.8%
21 Jan 2014CIEP[22]20.4%11.2%3.1%9.5%15.3%4.6%
28 Jan 2014Cid Gallup[23]35.6%17.6%6.5%15.6%21%3.8%
28 Jan 2014CIEP[24]17.4%7.3%3.4%11.6%14.4%

Results

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Results of vote overseas, gold PAC, green PLN and yellow FA.

President

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The results of the first-round final count were declared on 17 February 2014,[25] with the results of the second-round eighth count being declared on 7 April 2014:[26]

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Luis Guillermo SolísCitizens' Action Party629,86630.641,338,32177.77
Johnny Araya MongeNational Liberation Party610,63429.71382,60022.23
José María Villalta Florez-EstradaBroad Front354,47917.25
Otto GuevaraLibertarian Movement233,06411.34
Rodolfo Piza RocafortSocial Christian Unity Party123,6536.02
José Miguel Corrales BolañosNew Fatherland Party30,8161.50
Carlos AvendañoNational Restoration Party27,6911.35
Justo OrozcoCosta Rican Renewal Party16,7210.81
Óscar LópezAccessibility without Exclusion10,3390.50
Sergio MenaNew Generation Party5,8820.29
Héctor MonestelWorkers' Party4,8970.24
José EchandNational Advance Party4,3880.21
Walter MuñozNational Integration Party3,0420.15
Total2,055,472100.001,720,921100.00
Valid votes2,055,47297.921,720,92198.95
Invalid/blank votes43,7472.0818,3141.05
Total votes2,099,219100.001,739,235100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,065,66768.483,078,32156.50
Source: Election Resources

By province

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First round

Province %PAC %PLN %FA %ML %PUSC %PPN %PREN %Other %
 San José36.228.515.210.05.31.41.41.9
 Alajuela31.129.818.310.45.42.11.11.8
 Cartago34.827.814.711.46.32.10.91.9
 Heredia38.625.816.59.81.21.21.65.3
 Puntarenas14.134.423.214.68.50.72.02.6
 Limón14.629.222.218.17.70.81.95.6
 Guanacaste14.940.819.112.87.80.91.32.5
Total30.629.717.311.36.11.51.42.2

Second round

ProvincePAC %PLN %
 San José77.622.3
 Alajuela78.921.1
 Cartago80.319.6
 Heredia80.819.1
 Puntarenas73.126.8
 Limón77.522.4
 Guanacaste69.730.2
Total77.822.1

Legislative Assembly

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Although Solís' PAC received the most votes in the presidential elections,[27] the party did not won in the parliamentary voting making PLN the largest party in the Assembly with 18 deputies over PAC's 13.[28]

Leftist party Broad Front surprised with its results, achieving 9 seats,[29] first time ever that the Left achieved such a big number.[28] Social Christian Unity Party recovered part of its former influence[29] by turning into the fourth political party in legislative size even when its candidate Rodolfo Piza was fifth in the presidential vote.[30] The opposite happened to Otto Guevara’s right-wing Libertarian Movement,[29] fourth in presidential votes,[30] which stood fifth in legislative elections, and as a result, the number of its deputies was reduced from 9 to 4.[29][28] Oscar Lopez’s PASE party also suffered a diminishment in number of deputies from 4 to 1 (Lopez himself).[29][31]

Three Christian parties, oriented toward the Protestant minority[32] and very socially conservative, also achieved deputies: Costa Rican Renewal Party 2, National Restoration 1 and Christian Democratic Alliance 1.[31]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party526,53125.7118–6
Citizens' Action Party480,96923.4813+2
Broad Front269,17813.149+8
Social Christian Unity Party205,24710.028+2
Libertarian Movement162,5597.944–5
National Restoration Party84,2654.1110
Costa Rican Renewal Party83,0834.062+1
Accessibility without Exclusion81,2913.971–3
New Fatherland Party42,2342.060New
New Generation Party25,0601.220New
Christian Democratic Alliance23,8861.171New
National Advance Party19,8950.970New
Workers' Party12,9980.6300
National Integration Party11,3070.5500
Transporters' Party5,6390.280New
Patriotic Alliance4,8530.2400
Viva Puntarenas Party4,4170.220New
Green Party2,1480.100New
Homel, Equality and Dem. Party of Puntarenas1,3760.070New
Homeland, Equality and Democracy Party1,0880.050New
New Socialist Party2770.010New
Total2,048,301100.00570
Valid votes2,048,30197.72
Invalid/blank votes47,8542.28
Total votes2,096,155100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,065,66768.38
Source: Election Resources

By province

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ProvincePLNPACFAPUSCMLPRENPRCPASEPPNPNGOther
%S%S%S%S%S%S%S%S%S%S%S
 San José23.5527.2512.128.827.525.313.914.212.001.803.50
 Alajuela27.4425.2314.028.317.713.204.004.103.000.802.40
 Cartago24.4223.5211.1110.717.102.401.504.602.200.9011.61
 Heredia23.9231.5212.719.117.604.702.403.901.601.001.60
 Puntarenas28.5212.8114.8115.319.004.203.303.900.901.305.90
 Limón26.0110.5015.9111.4110.613.2012.613.600.900.904.40
 Guanacaste34.6211.5016.0114.019.003.504.601.602.400.502.20
Total25.71823.51313.1910.087.944.113.923.912.101.204.41

Candidates elected

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Fifty-seven legislators were elected and took office on 1 May 2014, eleven of whom had been members of the Legislative Assembly in the past. Five were from the National Liberation Party: Antonio Álvarez Desanti, Juan Luis Jiménez, Olivier Jiménez, Rolando González, and Sandra Piszk. Two were from the Citizen Action Party: Epsy Campbell and Ottón Solís. Mario Redondo of the Christian Democratic Alliance served previously with the Social Christian Unity Party. The others were Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement Party, Oscar López of Accessibility Without Exclusion, and Jorge Rodríguez of the Social Christian Unity Party.[33] The full list is as follows:[34]

ProvinceCédulaCandidateParty
 San José104300205Ottón Solís FallasPAC
San José106070983Epsy Campbell BarrPAC
San José104990698Víctor Hugo Morales ZapataPAC
San José108460152Marcela Guerrero CamposPAC
San José601780481Ruperto Marvin Atencio DelgadoPAC
San José104890842Antonio Álvarez DesantiPLN
San José103570156Sara Ángela Piszk FeinzilberPLN
San José400850902Carlos Manuel Arguedas RamírezPLN
San José700490709Maureen Cecilia Clarke ClarkePLN
San José202751177Juan Luis Jiménez SuccarPLN
San José104710261Ana Patricia Mora CastellanosFA
San José104110109Jorge Arturo Arguedas MoraFA
San José105270922Humberto Vargas CorralesPUSC
San José106730022Rosibel Ramos MadrigalPUSC
San José105440893Otto Guevara GuthPML
San José112260846Natalia Díaz QuintanaPML
San José108820284Gerardo Fabricio Alvarado MuñozPRN
San José107890915Óscar Andrés López AriasPASE
San José108910592Gonzalo Alberto Ramírez ZamoraPRC
 Alajuela202740540Rolando González UlloaPLN
Alajuela202700539Aracelli Segura RetanaPLN
Alajuela109780035Michael Jake Arce SanchoPLN
Alajuela206470280Silvia Vanessa Sánchez VenegasPLN
Alajuela204060127Javier Francisco Cambronero ArguedasPAC
Alajuela900500822Nidia María Jiménez VásquezPAC
Alajuela110350156Franklin Corella VargasPAC
Alajuela204830663Edgardo Vinicio Araya SibajaFA
Alajuela203440441Ligia Elena Fallas RodríguezFA
Alajuela104410073Rafael Ángel Ortiz FábregaPUSC
Alajuela106730801José Alberto Alfaro JiménezPML
 Cartago302880372Paulina María Ramírez PortuguezPLN
Cartago302350106Julio Antonio Rojas AstorgaPLN
Cartago104110201Emilia Molina CruzPAC
Cartago106670558Marco Vinicio Redondo QuirósPAC
Cartago302990664José Francisco Camacho LeivaFA
Cartago301940611Jorge Rodríguez ArayaPUSC
Cartago105890526Mario Redondo PovedaADC
 Heredia105120548Henry Mora JiménezPAC
Heredia204740785Marlene Madrigal FloresPAC
Heredia108490121Rony Monge SalasPLN
Heredia401300696Lorelly Trejos SalasPLN
Heredia401470385José Antonio Ramírez AguilarFA
Heredia401300350William Alvarado BogantesPUSC
 Guanacaste106070406Juan Rafael Marín QuirósPLN
Guanacaste501880832Marta Arabela Arauz MoraPLN
Guanacaste204240362Ronal Vargas ArayaFA
Guanacaste502950673Johnny Leiva BadillaPUSC
 Puntarenas503090116Karla Vanessa Prendas MatarritaPLN
Puntarenas202820663Olivier Ibo Jiménez RojasPLN
Puntarenas110230742Gerardo Vargas RojasPUSC
Puntarenas502560320Carlos Enrique Hernández ÁlvarezFA
Puntarenas104160452Laura María Garro SánchezPAC
 Limón900840835Danny Hayling CarcachePLN
Limón302420343Gerardo Vargas VarelaFA
Limón502170327Abelino Esquivel QuesadaPRC
Limón107880624Luis Alberto Vásquez CastroPUSC
Limón303050502Carmen Quesada SantamaríaPML

References

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  4. ^ a b Encuesta de Unimer: Costa Rica sin favorito a dos meses de elecciones Archived 2014-01-07 at the Wayback Machine La Nación, 2013-12-01. (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Frajman, Eduardo "The General Election in Costa Rica, February/April 2014" Electoral Studies, Vol. 35, 2014, pp. 61-66
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  21. ^ "País indeciso camina hacia una segunda ronda electoral". Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  22. ^ Encuesta del CIEP: Johnny Araya frena caída y toma leve ventaja, Semanario, 21 January 2014, archived from the original on 3 February 2014, retrieved 2 February 2014
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  26. ^ Corte Número 8 Archived 2014-04-08 at the Wayback Machine Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones 2014-04-07. (in Spanish)
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  34. ^ Declaratoria de elección de Diputados a la Asamblea Legislativa de la República de Costa Rica 2014-2018 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, 2014-03-03. (in Spanish)