1966 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 1966.[1] José Joaquín Trejos Fernández of the National Unification Party won the presidential election, whilst the National Liberation Party won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81.4%.[2]

1966 Costa Rican general election

6 February 1966
Turnout81.4%
 
Nominee José Trejos Daniel Oduber
Party UN PLN
Home state San José San José
Popular vote 222,810 218,590
Percentage 50.5% 49.5%

Results by canton

President before election

Francisco Orlich
PLN

Elected President

José Trejos
UN

Legislative election

Party Leader % Seats ±
PLN Daniel Oduber Quirós 50.7% 29 0
UN José Joaquín Trejos Fernández 35.9% 26 New
UCR Frank Marshall Jiménez 5.5% 2 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

These were very divisive elections as they had only two candidates.[3] On one hand the government party PLN nominated the Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Oduber Quirós, whilst all the right-wing opposition joined forces and former enemies Rafael Calderón and his National Republican Party (Social Christian) merged with Otilio Ulate’s National Union (Liberal-Conservative) in the National Unification Coalition. Calderón and Ulate were enemies during the 1948 Civil War but put aside their differences and they agree that none of them will be candidate.[3]

The Coalition look forward a “neutral” candidate that could unified the opposition and college professor and economist José Joaquín Trejos was selected.[3] Trejos had never hold a public office before.[3]

Left-wing opposition was outlawed as the Legislative Assembly made effective the article 98 of Costa Rica's Constitution at the time that forbid Communist parties, making illegal the only party at the left of PLN, the Popular Democratic Action (PADA) led by Manuel Mora.

The campaign was particularly ideological, as the two candidates were basically encompassing the only Right-Left options and were defenders of two very different ideologies; Oduber (and PLN) abide to democratic socialism and Trejos was conservative. The debate centered on both opposing philosophies; Trejos accused PLN of statism and been smothering the private enterprise, whilst Oduber accused Trejos of been a supported by the richest of the rich and trying to bring down Costa Rica's social justice and labor laws.[3]

In one of the most hard-fought elections in Costa Rica's history, Trejos won by a small difference of around 2000 votes (one of Costa Rica's slightest differences between two candidates),[3] though PLN kept its parliamentary majority (thus many of Trejos’ reforms did not passed). Far-right Revolutionary Civic Union Party won two seats in Parliament. The results were accepted by all sides and many historians seem this election as the evidence that the dark times of civil unrest and conflict after electoral processes that end in the Civil War were put behind for good.[3]

Results

President

Candidate Party Votes %
José Joaquín Trejos FernándezNational Unification Coalition222,81050.5
Daniel Oduber QuirósNational Liberation Party218,59049.5
Invalid/blank votes10,090
Total451,490100
Registered voters/turnout554,62781.4
Source: Nohlen; Election Resources

By province

Province Trejos % Oduber %
 San José 49.7 50.3
 Alajuela 51.4 48.9
 Cartago 48.6 51.4
 Heredia 51.2 48.8
 Puntarenas 55.7 44.3
 Limón 54.7 45.3
 Guanacaste 48.0 52.0
Total 50.5 49.5
Popular Vote
National Unification
50.5%
National Liberation
49.5%

Parliament

Popular Vote
National Liberation
48.9%
National Unification
43.2%
Rev. Civic Union
5.5%
Democratic
2.1%
Guan. Republican
0.4%
Seats
National Liberation
50.8%
National Unification
45.6%
Rev. Civic Union
3.5%
Party Votes % Seats +/–
National Liberation Party202,89148.9290
National Unification Coalition178,95343.226New
Revolutionary Civic Union22,7215.52New
Democratic Party8,5432.10New
Guanacastecan Republican Party1,5290.40New
Invalid/blank votes36,838
Total451,490100570
Registered voters/turnout554,62781.4
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province

Province PLN CUN UCR PD PRG
% S % S % S % S % S
 San José 49.4 10 42.3 9 7.2 2 1.1 0 - -
 Alajuela 49.2 5 44.6 5 3.1 0 3.1 0 - -
 Cartago 49.7 4 39.5 3 5.4 0 5.4 0 - -
 Heredia 49.0 2 46.1 1 2.8 0 2.0 0 - -
 Puntarenas 44.2 3 50.5 4 4.1 0 1.3 0 - -
 Limón 44.5 2 44.4 1 7.8 0 3.4 0 - -
 Guanacaste 51.5 3 38.8 3 5.5 0 0.3 0 3.9 0
Total 48.9 29 43.2 26 5.5 2 2.1 0 0.4 0

Local governments

Alderpeople
National Liberation
51.88%
National Unification
47.78%
Civic Rev. Union
0.34%
Municipal Syndics
National Liberation
60.48%
National Unification
39.52%
Parties Popular vote Alderpeople Municipal Syndics
Votes % ±pp Total +/- Total +/-
National Liberation Party (PLN) 207,87649.32-0.55 152+4202-78
National Unification Coalition (CUN) 195,09246.29New 140New132New
Civic Revolutionary Union (UCR) 13,9183.30New 1New0New
Democratic Party (PD) 2,8091.77New 0New0New
Guanacastecan Republican Party (PRG) 1,3350.37New 0New0New
Palmarenean Democratic Front (FDP) 4510.19New 0New0New
Total 421,481100.00-293+18334+10
Invalid votes 29,8466.61
Votes cast / turnout 451,32781.37
Abstentions 103,30018.63
Registered voters 554,627100%
Sources[4]

Ballot

References

  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. Nohlen, p156
  3. Hernández Naranjo, Gerardo. "Reseña de las elecciones presidenciales de 1966" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Elecciones Regidurías 1966". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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