1982 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 7 February 1982.[1] Luis Alberto Monge of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 78.6%.[2]

1982 Costa Rican general election

7 February 1982
Turnout	78.6%
Nominee Luis Alberto Monge Rafael Ángel Calderón Party PLN CU Home state Alajuela San José Popular vote 568,374 542,434 Percentage 58.8% 33.6%
Results by canton
President before election Rodrigo Carazo CU Elected President Luis Alberto Monge PLN
Legislative election
Party Leader % Seats ± PLN Luis Alberto Monge 55.2 33 +8 CU Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier 29.1% 18 -9 PU Rodrigo Gutiérrez Sáenz 6.4% 4 +1 MN Mario Echandi Jiménez 3.6% 1 New PADA Óscar Valverde Rodríguez 1.3% 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Affected by a deep economic crisis and tensions with Somoza’s Nicaragua due to Rodrigo Carazo’s support of the FSLN, Carazo's government suffered from extremely low popularity. This naturally affected the Unity Coalition (Carazo's party) and its candidate Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier giving to PLN and its candidate trade union leader and farmer Luis Alberto Monge a landslide victory and the party's biggest parliamentary group in its history (33 deputies). Nevertheless, Unity remained as the second most voted party in the election as Calderón was able to attract the traditional and very loyal Calderonista vote.[3] The crisis was also beneficial for the Left as it achieved a historical high voting and four seats in Parliament (the biggest group since 1948) with Dr. Rodrigo Gutiérrez repeating candidacy from United People. Another candidate was former president Mario Echandi by the conservative and anti-Communist National Movement, but Echandi's candidacy was testimonial receiving almost as many votes as Gutierrez (3% each), according to some due to his incapacity to understand modern times when personal wealth and family origin was not enough to win an election.[4]

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Luis Alberto Monge	National Liberation Party	568,374	58.8
	Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier	Unity Coalition	325,187	33.6
	Mario Echandi Jiménez	National Movement	37,127	3.8
	Rodrigo Gutiérrez Sáenz	United People	32,186	3.3
	Edwin Chacón Madrigal	Independent Party	1,955	0.2
	Edwin Retana Chaves	Democratic Party	1,747	0.2
Invalid/blank votes			25,103	–
Total			991,679	100
Registered voters/turnout			1,261,127	78.6
Source: Nohlen; Election Resources

By province

Province	Monge %	Calderón %	Echandi %	Gutiérrez %	Chacón %	Retana %
San José	58.4	32.5	5.3	3.5	0.2	0.1
Alajuela	59.5	35.5	2.8	2.0	0.2	0.2
Cartago	61.9	32.8	2.7	2.1	0.3	0.2
Heredia	57.0	36.3	2.6	3.7	0.1	0.2
Puntarenas	58.3	32.8	3.3	5.0	0.3	0.3
Limón	53.9	33.8	3.6	7.8	0.6	0.4
Guanacaste	60.7	34.6	2.4	1.8	0.2	0.2
Total	58.8	33.6	3.8	3.3	0.2	0.2

Popular Vote National Liberation   58.8% Unity Coalition   33.6% National Movement   3.8% United People   3.3% Independent   0.2% Democratic   0.2%

Parliament

Popular Vote
National Liberation			55.2%
Unity Coalition			29.1%
United People			6.4%
National Movement			3.6%
Alajuelense Dem. Action			1.3%
National Democratic			1.2%
Cartago Agrarian Union			0.8%
Costa Rican Concord			0.5%
Other			1.9%

Seats
National Liberation			57.89%
Unity Coalition			31.57%
United People			7.01%
National Movement			1.75%
Alajuelense Dem. Action			1.75%

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	527,231	55.2	33	+8
	Unity Coalition	277,998	29.1	17	-9
	United People	61,495	6.4	3	+1
	National Movement	25,824	3.1	1	New
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	12,486	1.3	1	New
	National Democratic Party	11,575	1.2	0	New
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	7,235	0.8	0	-1
	Costa Rican Concord Party	5,014	0.5	0	0
	Independent Party	4,671	0.5	0	0
	Limonese Authentic Party	3,893	0.4	0	0
	Peoples' Action Party	3,546	0.4	0	New
	Democratic Party	2,672	0.3	0	0
	Cartago Parliamentary Union Party	1,047	0.1	0	New
	Puntarenense Authentic Party	1,036	0.1	0	0
	Worker-Peasant Party	976	0.1	0	New
	National Liberal Progressive Republican Party	708	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		35,576	–	–	–
Total		991,566	100	57	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,261,127	78.6	–	–
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province

Province	PLN		CU		PU		MN		PND		PI		PD		Others
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	55.1	12	28.5	6	7.2	2	4.7	1	1.5	0	0.4	0	0.3	0	2.3	0
Alajuela	55.5	6	30.1	3	3.3	0	2.4	0	0.7	0	0.4	0	0.2	0	7.4	1
Cartago	57.2	4	25.5	2	3.8	0	2.2	0	0.6	0	1.2	0	0.3	0	9.2	0
Heredia	54.0	3	32.4	2	8.3	0	3.5	0	1.1	0	0.4	0	0.2	0	-	-
Puntarenas	55.7	3	28.6	2	8.6	1	3.2	0	2.0	0	0.3	0	0.4	0	1.2	0
Limón	43.5	2	27.0	1	14.2	1	3.4	0	1.8	0	1.4	0	0.4	0	8.4	0
Guanacaste	59.4	3	32.8	2	3.9	0	3.1	0	0.6	0	-	-	0.2	-	-	-
Total	55.2	33	29.1	18	6.4	4	3.6	1	1.2	0	0.5	0	0.3	0	3.7	0

Local governments

Alderpeople
National Liberation			60.40%
Unity Coalition			33.13%
United People			4.24%
Regionalist			1.21%
National Movement			0.81%
National Democratic			0.40%

Municipal Syndics
National Liberation			97.34%
Unity Coalition			2.66%

Parties		Popular vote			Alderpeople		Municipal Syndics
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/-	Total	+/-
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	535,478	55.91	+15.91	299	+86	403	+226
	Unity Coalition (CU)	287,825	30.05	-14.57	164	-66	11	-217
	United People (PU)	59,161	6.18	-0.25	21	-2	0	0
	National Movement (MN)	40,079	4.19	New	4	New	0	New
	National Democratic Party (PND)	9,455	0.99	New	2	New	0	New
	Alajuelense Democratic Action (PADA)	9,359	0.98	New	2	New	0	New
	Peoples' Action Party (PAP)	4,762	0.50	New	0	New	0	New
	Independent Party (PI)	3,514	0.45	-0.08	0	-1	0	-1
	Generaleña Union Party (PUG)	1,852	0.19	New	1	New	0	New
	Limonense Authentic Party (PAL)	1,763	0.18	-0.06	1	0	0	0
	Worker-Peasant Party (POC)	1,463	0.15	+0.02	1	0	0	0
	New Alajuelita Party (PALNU)	1,073	0.11	New	1	New	0	New
	Puntarenense Authentic Party (PAP)	722	0.08	-0.19	0	-1	0	0
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party (PUAC)	695	0.07	New	0	New	0	New
	Democratic Party (PD)	475	0.05	-0.02	0	0	0	0
Total		957,676	100.00	-	495	+19	414	+8
Invalid votes		33,869	3.41
Votes cast / turnout		991,545	78.65
Abstentions		269,131	21.35
Registered voters		1,269,676	100%
Sources[5]

Ballot

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References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
2. Nohlen, p157
3. Lehoucq, Fabrice (27 August 2012). The Politics of Modern Central America. ISBN 9780521515061. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
4. White, Stephen; Webb, Paul (20 September 2007). Party Politics in New Democracies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199289653. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
5. "Elecciones Regidurías 1982". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.