1978 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 5 February 1978.[1] Rodrigo Carazo Odio of the Unity Coalition won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81.3%.[2]

1978 Costa Rican general election
5 February 1978
Turnout81.3%
Presidential election
 
Nominee Rodrigo Carazo Luis Alberto Monge
Party CU PLN
Home state Cartago Alajuela
Popular vote 419,824 364,285
Percentage 50.5% 43.8%
In green provinces won by Monge, in blue Carazo
President before election

Daniel Oduber
PLN

 Elected President

Rodrigo Carazo
CU

Legislative election
Party Leader % Seats ±
CU Rodrigo Carazo Odio 43.4% 27 New
PLN Luis Alberto Monge 38.9% 25 -2
PU Rodrigo Gutiérrez Sáenz 7.7% 3 New
FPC Rodolfo Cerdas Cruz 1.6% 1 New
PUAC Martín Rolando Brenes 1% 1 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Carazo, a former congressman and former member of the National Liberation Party (probably Costa Rica's main political force), left the party several years before and created his own: Democratic Renovation, but a deeply split opposition on the 1974 election caused PLN's easy victory. With that in mind, main leaders of the non-Marxist opposition started talks in order to present a unified candidature.[3][4]

Eventually these talks came through and the main parties in the opposition at the right of the government achieved an agreement; going into a primary election to choose the common nominee. Rodrigo Carazo faced wealthy industrial Miguel Barzuna winning by small margin. Even when some leaders left the coalition after this (most notably Jorge Gonzalez Marten from the National Independent Party and former president Mario Echandi) most of the leadership remained united.[5] The Unity Coalition was created out of the joining of four parties: Carazo's Democratic Renovation, former president José Joaquín Trejos’ People's Union, Rafael Calderón Fournier (son of Calderonist leader Rafael Calderón Guardia) Republican Party and Dr. Jorge Arturo Monge's Christian Democratic Party (the smallest one of the coalition but the most ideologically coherent).[6]

The Left also made a coalition; the three main far-left parties at the Left of PLN; Popular Vanguard, Costa Rican Socialist Party and Revolutionary People's Movement made the United People coalition,[7] nominating former PLN member and doctor Rodrigo Gutierrez. Gutierrez had no possibilities to be president but the coalition did help the Left having a higher voting than usual and a large group in Congress. For many historians this election marks the beginning of Costa Rica's two-party system.[8]

President
Candidate Party Votes %
Rodrigo Carazo OdioUnity Coalition419,82450.5
Luis Alberto MongeNational Liberation Party364,28543.8
Rodrigo Gutiérrez SáenzUnited People22,7402.7
Guillermo Villalobos ArceNational Unification Party13,6661.6
Gerardo Villalobos GaritaIndependent Party3,8220.5
Jorge González MarténNational Independent Partyes3,3230.4
Carlos Coronado VargasWorkers' Socialist Organization1,8680.2
Rodrigo Cordero VíquezDemocratic Party1,6130.2
Invalid/blank votes29,065–
Total860,206100
Registered voters/turnout1,058,45581.3
Source: Nohlen; Election Resources

By province
Province Carazo % Monge % Gutiérrez % Villalobos % Villalobos % González % Coronado % Cordero%
 San José 52.1 42.4 2.9 1.4 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.1
 Alajuela 50.6 45.7 1.6 1.2 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1
 Cartago 47.1 47.3 2.0 1.9 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.3
 Heredia 51.2 44.2 2.9 0.9 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1
 Puntarenas 48.0 42.8 4.6 2.8 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.3
 Limón 49.9 38.3 5.9 3.7 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.4
 Guanacaste 49.3 46.2 1.4 1.7 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3
Total 50.5 43.8 2.7 1.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.2
Popular Vote
Unity Coalition
 
 50.5%
National Liberation
 
 43.8%
United People
 
 2.7%
National Unification
 
 1.6%
Independent
 
 0.5%
National Independent
 
 0.4%
Workers' Soc. Org.
 
 0.2%
Democratic
 
 0.2%

Parliament
Popular Vote
Unity Coalition
 
 43.4%
National Liberation
 
 38.9%
United People
 
 7.7%
National Unification
 
 3.1%
CR Peoples' Front
 
 1.6%
Republican Union
 
 1.0%
Cartago Agrarian Union
 
 1.0%
National Independent
 
 0.8%
Other
 
 2.6%
Seats
Unity Coalition
 
 47.36%
National Liberation
 
 43.85%
United People
 
 5.26%
CR Peoples' Front
 
 1.75%
Cartago Agrarian Union
 
 1.75%
Party Votes % Seats +/–
Unity Coalition356,21543.427New
National Liberation Party318,90438.925-2
United People62,8657.73New
National Unification Party25,8243.10-16
Costa Rican Peoples' Front12,8341.61+1
Republican Union Party8,2151.00New
Cartago Agrarian Union Party7,8871.010
National Independent Partyes6,6730.80-6
Independent Party5,7740.70New
Workers' Socialist Organization Party4,0590.40New
Democratic Party3,0830.40-1
Limonese Authentic Party2,9540.40New
Costa Rican Concord Party2,5420.300
Puntarenense Authentic Party1,7290.20New
National Labour Party1,0020.10New
Invalid/blank votes39,328–––
Total859,888100570
Registered voters/turnout1,058,45581.2––
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province
Province CU PLN PU PUN FPCR PUR PNI PI POST PD Others
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
 San José 44.6 10 36.9 8 9.3 2 2.1 0 3.1 1 0.8 0 0.5 0 0.7 0 1.2 0 0.4 0 0.3 0
 Alajuela 46.2 5 42.8 5 4.2 0 4.3 0 - - 1.0 0 0.8 0 0.7 0 0.5 0 0.4 0 1.2 0
 Cartago 36.7 2 39.2 3 5.6 0 3.5 0 - - 1.9 0 1.3 0 1.1 0 - - 0.6 0 10.1 1
 Heredia 44.7 2 40.5 2 9.5 0 2.2 0 - - 0.5 0 0.7 0 0.7 0 - - 0.2 0 1.0 0
 Puntarenas 39.7 3 38.3 3 8.9 1 4.3 0 3.0 0 1.2 0 1.0 0 0.9 0 - - 0.4 0 2.3 0
 Limón 38.7 2 30.3 2 12.0 0 4.5 0 - - 2.1 0 3.2 0 0.9 0 - - 0.5 0 7.8 0
 Guanacaste 45.5 3 43.0 2 4.2 0 4.1 0 - - 1.3 0 0.7 0 0.6 0 - - 0.3 0 0.2 0
Total 43.4 27 38.9 25 7.7 3 3.1 0 1.6 1 1.0 0 0.8 0 0.7 0 0.4 0 0.4 0 2.0 0

Local governments

Vote percentage

  CU (44.62%)
  PLN (40.00%)
  PU (6.43%)
  PUN (3.61%)
  FPCR (1.24%)
  PUR (1.22%)
  PNI (0.93%)
  PI (0.45%)
  PDP (0.27%)
  PAP (0.27%)
  PAD (0.25%)
  PAL (0.24%)
  Other (0.47%)
Parties Popular vote Alderpeople Municipal Syndics
Votes % ±pp Total +/- Total +/-
Unity Coalition (CU) 365,90244.62New 230New228New
National Liberation Party (PLN) 328,00940.00-2.44 213-12177-173
United People (PU) 52,7076.43New 23New0New
National Unification Party (PUN) 29,5983.61-22.69 4-1460-37
Costa Rican Peoples' Front (FPCR) 10,1531.24+1.00 1+100
Republican Union Party (PUR) 10,0051.22New 0New0New
National Independent Party (PNI) 7,6230.93-9.31 0-480-2
Independent Party (PI) 3,7260.45+0.29 1+11+1
Democratic Party of the People (PDP) 2,2540.27New 0New0New
Puntarenense Authentic Party (PAP) 2,2070.27New 1New0New
Desamparadenean Alliance Party (PAD) 2,0620.25New 1New0New
Limonese Authentic Party (PAL) 2,0080.24New 1New0New
Costa Rican Concord Party (PCC) 1,7050.21New 0New0New
Worker-Peasant Party (POC) 1,1040.13New 1New0New
Democratic Party (PD) 5680.07-0.30 0000
Workers' Socialist Organization Party (POST) 4610.06New 0New0New
Total 820,092100.00-476+9406+16
Invalid votes 39,9094.64
Votes cast / turnout 860,00181.25
Abstentions 198,44418.75
Registered voters 1,058,445100%
Sources[9]

Ballot

References
  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p 155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. Nohlen, p 157
  3. Casas-Zamora, Kevin (2005). Paying for Democracy: Political Finance and State Funding for Parties. ECPR Press. ISBN 978-0-9547966-3-1.
  4. "Elections and Events 1948-1986 1948". The Library. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  5. Lentz, Harris M. Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  6. Lehoucq, Fabrice. The Politics of Modern Central America. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  7. Ameringer, Charles D. Political Parties of the Americas, 1980s to 1990s. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  8. White, Stephen; Webb, Paul. Party Politics in New Democracies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  9. "Elecciones Regidurías 1978". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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