2010 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 7 February 2010. The ruling party before the election, the center-left National Liberation Party, put forward former Vice-President Laura Chinchilla as its presidential candidate, while the libertarian, Movimiento Libertario nominated former legislator Otto Guevara. Opinion polls before voting started consistently put Chinchilla as the front-runner, a trend confirmed in the election-night count, which showed her garnering 46.76% of the vote.[2]

2010 Costa Rican general election
7 February 2010[1]
Turnout69.1%
Presidential election
 
Candidate Laura Chinchilla Ottón Solís Fallas Otto Guevara Guth
Party PLN PAC ML
Home state San José San José San José
Percentage 46.91% 25.06% 20.92%
President before election

Oscar Arias
PLN

 Elected President

Laura Chinchilla
PLN

Legislative election
Party Leader % Seats ±
PLN Laura Chinchilla Miranda 37.3% 24 -1
PAC Ottón Solís Fallas 17.6% 11 -6
ML Otto Guevara Guth 14.5% 9 +3
PUSC Luis Fishman Zonzinski 8.2% 6 +1
PASE Óscar Andrés López Arias 9% 4 +3
PRC Mayra González León 3.9% 1 +1
FA Eugenio Trejos Benavides 3.6% 1 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Map on the left shows the seats won by each party by province. The map on the right shows which party won the plurality in each province in the Presidential election.
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The election was supervised by observers from several countries, as well as from the Organization of American States.[3] The incumbent President, Óscar Arias, was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term. This was the last time as of 2019, that the National Liberation Party has gotten more than 30% of the vote, the last time to this date that they have won the Presidency, and the last time it has won any province in what is known as the Central Valley (the four provinces in the interior of the country: San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago).

Presidential candidates

Candidates included:

Two weeks before the election, Patriotic Alliance and National Integration Party's candidates, Rolando Araya and Walter Muñoz, stopped their campaigns and endorsed Citizens' Action Party's candidate Otton Solís, in an effort to build a progressive alliance against Laura Chinchilla.[4]

Parliamentary elections

The swifting from a two-party system to a multi-party system was much more evident in this election[5][6][7][8]

For the then three major parties; PLN, PAC and ML the voting for the presidential ballot was superior to the support in the legislative, as for example PLN presidential candidate Laura Chinchilla[5] received 46%[9] of the votes and PLN’s legislative ballot only 37%.[1] Similarly PAC’s candidate Ottón Solís with 25%[9] presidential against 17% legislative[1] and Otto Guevara with 20%[9] oppose to 14% legislative.[1] Contrary to PUSC whose candidate Luis Fishman received 3%[9] electoral support while his party received 8%.[1]

This was at the time PAC’s worst electoral result in its history having the smallest faction in the Parliament[6] and ML’s best result with to this date its biggest.[6] PLN only lost one seat. Left-wing Broad Front maintained its only seat in the person of future presidential nominee José María Villalta Florez-Estrada[6] and two Christian parties[10] for the first time had deputies at the same time; Costa Rican Renewal Party and its provincial offshoot National Restoration.[6]

Opinion polling
  • CID-Gallup 24 January 2010: Chinchilla 43%; Guevara 30%; Solís 15%; Fishman 8%
  • Borge & Asociados for Diario Extra opinion poll January 2010: Chinchilla 38.7%; Guevara 18.3%; Solís 9.6%; Fishman 3.7%
  • Demoscopía for Al Día January 2010: Chinchilla 45.1%; Guevara 30.1%; Solís 9.5%; Fishman 3.8%[11]
  • December 2009: Chinchilla 36.7%; Guevara 16.2%; Solís 8.5%; Fishman 2.2%
  • December 2009: Chinchilla 46.6%; Guevara 19.5%; Solís 8.3%; Fishman 4.1%
  • October 2009: Chinchilla 53.0%; Guevara 15.7%; Solís 12.3%; Fishman 1.5%

Results

President

At 9:08 p.m. local time on election day, 7 February second-placed candidate Otton Solis conceded defeat to Laura Chinchilla, who will become Costa Rica's first female president. With approximately 40% of the vote counted, Chinchilla was consistently surpassing the 40% threshold for victory in the first round, leading Solis by 47% to 24%, with third-placed candidate Otto Guevara trailing at 21.5%.[12]

Candidate Party Votes %
Laura ChinchillaNational Liberation Party863,80346.78
Ottón SolísCitizens' Action Party464,45425.15
Otto GuevaraLibertarian Movement384,54020.83
Luis FishmanSocial Christian Unity Party71,3303.86
Óscar LópezAccessibility without Exclusion35,2151.91
Mayra GonzálezCosta Rican Renewal Party13,3760.72
Eugenio TrejosBroad Front6,8220.37
Rolando ArayaPatriotic Alliance Party3,7950.21
Walter MuñozNational Integration Party3,1980.17
Invalid/blank votes39,514–
Total1,950,847100
Registered voters/turnout2,822,49169.12
Source: TSE
Popular Vote
National Liberation
 
 46.78%
Citizens' Action
 
 25.15%
Libertarian Movement
 
 20.83%
Social Christian Unity
 
 3.86%
Acc. w/o Exclusion
 
 1.91%
Costa Rican Renewal
 
 0.72%
Broad Front
 
 0.37%

By province
Province % PLN % PAC % ML % PUSC % PASE % PRC % Other %
 San José 46.6 28.9 17.6 3.6 2.1 0.6 0.6
 Alajuela 45.3 26.5 21.9 3.2 1.8 0.8 0.5
 Cartago 49.7 23.5 19.4 4.2 2.1 0.4 0.7
 Heredia 46.6 27.6 19.5 3.2 1.8 0.6 0.7
 Puntarenas 48.9 17.3 26.7 4.4 1.3 0.8 0.6
 Limón 41.6 17.5 31.4 5.0 1.7 1.9 0.9
 Guanacaste 51.4 15.9 23.3 6.1 1.6 1.2 0.6
Total 46.8 25.1 20.9 3.9 1.9 0.7 0.8

Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly-Popular vote
National Liberation
 
 37.16%
Citizens' Action
 
 17.68%
Libertarian Movement
 
 14.48%
Acc. w/o Exclusion
 
 9.17%
Social Christian Unity
 
 8.05%
Costa Rican Renewal
 
 3.97%
Broad Front
 
 3.66%
National Restoration
 
 1.62%
Patriotic Alliance
 
 1.47%
Other
 
 1.22%
Legislative Assembly-Seats
National Liberation
 
 42.10%
Citizens' Action
 
 19.29%
Libertarian Movement
 
 15.79%
Social Christian Unity
 
 10.52%
Acc. w/o Exclusion
 
 7.01%
Costa Rican Renewal
 
 1.75%
Broad Front
 
 1.75%
National Restoration
 
 1.75%
Party Votes % Seats +/–
National Liberation Party708,04337.324–1
Citizens' Action Party334,63617.611–6
Libertarian Movement275,51814.59+3
Accessibility without Exclusion171,8589.04+3
Social Christian Unity Party155,0478.26+1
Costa Rican Renewal Party73,1503.91+1
Broad Front68,9873.610
National Restoration Party29,5301.610
Patriotic Alliance Party28,3491.50New
National Integration Party14,6430.800
Cartago Agrarian Union Party11,8620.600
Heredia Restoration Party7,9530.40New
Alajuela Restoration Party7,2980.40New
Cartaginese Transparency Party4,5900.20New
Green Ecologist Party2,9010.20New
Elderly Alliance Party2,7240.10New
Alajuelan Familiar Force Party1,6090.10New
Workers' and Farmers' Movement1,1270.10New
Invalid/blank votes32,883–––
Total1,950,708100570
Registered voters/turnout2,822,49169.1––
Source: Election Resources

By province
Province PLN PAC ML PUSC PASE PRC FA PREN PAP Other
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
 San José 35.5 7 19.0 4 12.3 2 7.4 2 11.1 2 3.0 1 4.7 1 4.3 1 1.1 0 1.6 0
 Alajuela 38.2 5 19.9 2 16.5 2 6.5 1 8.5 1 6.5 0 1.3 0 2.0 0 1.9 0 0.8 0
 Cartago 38.9 3 17.0 1 13.1 1 7.6 1 7.9 1 2.8 0 2.8 0 - 0 1.2 0 8.5 0
 Heredia 37.0 2 19.1 2 13.9 1 7.3 0 8.7 0 2.9 0 4.8 0 4.0 0 1.9 0 0.5 0
 Puntarenas 39.7 2 14.3 1 18.6 1 13.8 1 5.1 0 4.3 0 2.2 0 - 0 1.1 0 1.0 0
 Limón 33.3 2 12.0 1 20.1 1 10.2 1 5.6 0 8.6 0 7.3 1 - 0 1.2 0 1.8 0
 Guanacaste 43.1 3 11.6 0 13.5 1 11.0 0 10.0 0 5.1 0 2.2 0 - 0 3.1 0 0.3 0
Total 37.3 24 17.6 11 14.5 9 8.2 6 9.0 4 3.9 1 3.6 1 2.4 1 1.5 0 2.0 0

Municipal Councils
See also: 2010 Costa Rican municipal elections

The elections of municipal councilors of Costa Rica in 2010 were an electoral process held in parallel with the presidential and legislative elections. In them the 495 tenure aldermen and the 495 alternates that conform the 81 Municipal Councils were chosen.

The Central Canton of San José, the most populous, named 13 aldermen. Desamparados and Alajuela named 11. Others less populated (Puntarenas, Limón, Pococí, Heredia, Cartago, La Unión, San Carlos, Goicoechea, Pérez Zeledón, etc.) named 9. Others even smaller (Tibás, Grecia, Vázquez de Coronado, Montes de Oca, Siquirres, Escazú, Turrialba, etc.) appointed 7 council members. Finally, the smallest (Turrubares, San Mateo, Santa Ana, Mora, Montes de Oro, Talamanca, etc.) named 5.

PartyAldermenRange
National Liberation Party196National
Citizens' Action Party98National
Libertarian Movement75National
Social Christian Unity Party54National
Accessibility without Exclusion23National
File:Bandera Partido Renovacion.jpgborder
Costa Rican Renewal Party10National
21st Century Curridabat4Curridabat Canton
Patriotic Alliance3National
Escazu's Progressive Yoke2Escazú Canton
Party of the Sun2Santa Ana Canton
File:Bandera UP.gifborder
Palmaran Union2Palmares Canton
Unique Abangaran2Abangares Canton
Broad Front1National
National Integration Party1National
National Restoration Party1National
Cartago Agrarian Union Party1Cartago Province
File:BANDERA PTP.pngborder
Tarrazú First1Tarrazu Canton
File:Elpuenteyloscaminosdemora.jpgborder
The Bridge and the Roads of Mora1Mora Canton
Goicoechea in Action1Goicoechea Canton
Coronado's Authentic Farmer Party1Vazquez de Coronado Canton
File:PCTFO.jpgborder
Fuenteovejuna Civic Party of Tibás1Tibas Canton
Let's Renew Alajuela1Alajuela Canton
File:Pua.pngborder
Atenian Union1Atenas Canton
Independent Belemite Party1Belen Canton
Santo Domingo Advance Party1Santo Domingo Canton
Live Buenos Aires1Buenos Aires Canton
File:Organizacionsocialactiva.jpgborder
Active Social Organization1Osa Canton
Oromontan Autonomous Party1Montes de Oro Canton
Quepan Action1Quepos Canton
Ecological Garabito1Garabito Canton
Independent Siquirres Cantonal Action Party1Siquirres Canton
File:Liga Ramonense.pngborder
Ramonese League Coalicion (Broad Front+Patriotic Alliance)1San Ramón Canton
Alfaro Ruiz' Popular Coalition (Broad Front+Patriotic Alliance)1Alfaro Ruiz Canton
San Carlan Alliance (Broad Front+Patriotic Alliance)1San Carlos Canton
File:Cbu.pngborder
United Barva (Broad Front+Patriotic Alliance)1Barva Canton

References
  1. "7 February 2010 Legislative Assembly Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Election Resources. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  2. (in Spanish)
  3. Jara, Francisco (2010-02-06). "AFP: First female poised for Costa Rica presidency". Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  4. https://www.nacion.com/el-pais/politica/araya-y-munoz-renuncian-a-ser-candidatos-y-apoyan-a-solis/DRRTC4TAPBBVBNP2472YW3I66I/story/
  5. "Panorama of Parliament Elections 2010" (PDF). International Parliamentary Union.
  6. Lehring, Gary (15 February 2014). "Costa Rican legislative elections show growing voter dissatisfaction with traditional choices". The Tico Times. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  7. Landsford, Tom (2014-03-20). Political Handbook of the World 2014. ISBN 9781483386263. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  8. Landsford, Tom (2012-04-02). Political Handbook of the World 2012. ISBN 9781608719952. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  9. "7 February 2010 Presidential Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Elections Resources. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  10. Lopez, Jaime (July 18, 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica". Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  11. "Chinchilla Leads, Guevara Gains in Costa Rica: Angus Reid Global Monitor". Angus-reid.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  12. "Solís reconoce victoria de Chinchilla - EL PAÍS". nacion.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.

Bruce M. Wilson and Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cordero: "The general election in Costa Rica, February 2010". In Electoral Studies, Volume 30, Issue 1, March 2011, pages 231-234.

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