1994 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 6 February 1994.[1] José María Figueres of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81.1%.[2]

1994 Costa Rican general election

6 February 1994
Turnout	81.1%
Presidential election
Candidate José María Figueres Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Party PLN PUSC Popular vote 739,339 711,328 Percentage 49.6% 47.7%
Results by canton
President before election Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier PUSC Elected President José María Figueres PLN
Party Leader % Seats ± PLN José María Figueres 44.6% 28 +3 PUSC Miguel Ángel Rodríguez 40.4% 25 -4 FD Vladimir de la Cruz 5.3% 2 0 PUAC Juan Guillermo Brenes Castillo 1.1% 1 0 PAN Víctor Hugo Núñez Torres 0.9% 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Campaign

The primary election were the main focus of controversy during this campaign, as they were particularly negative. In the case of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría made a second attempt to earn the nomination running against José Joaquín Trejos Fonseca, son of former president José Joaquín Trejos Fernández. The campaign was very ideological with Trejos accusing Rodríguez of not really being Christian Democrat nor following the ideals of Christian socialism and instead being neoliberal. Rodríguez indeed acknowledged to follow classical liberalism and advocated for small government, but without completely abandon Christian Democracy's ideas.[3]

PLN's primary was more focus on personal attacks. In it José María Figueres Olsen, son of PLN's caudillo and former president José Figueres Ferrer, faced popular anti-corruption and anti-narcotraffic deputy José Miguel Corrales, alongside other candidates like former First Lady Margarita Penón (wife of Óscar Arias) and San José Mayor Rolando Araya (nephew of former president Luis Alberto Monge). Thus, most candidates except Corrales came from important political families. Figueres' image was affected by the "Chemise Case", the allegations that he was involved in the murder of a young drug dealer while in custody during one of his father's governments.[3] Figueres sued the authors of the book accusing him, and won, but the controversy was still used by Corrales in campaign, to no avail as Figueres won the primary election. Corrales did not support him afterward.[3]

The negative campaign continue after the primaries. Rodríguez used the "Chemise Case" too and also accused Figueres of not being Catholic and belonging to the Christian Science cult, of having a military upraising due to his father's past as revolutionary caudillo and the fact that he's a West Point graduate, etc., in order to caused fear of an authoritarian government.[3] Figueres campaign on the other hand tried to show Rodríguez as a cold, heartless entrepreneur with neoliberal ideas as a counterpart to Figueres socialdemocratic ideology.[3]

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	José María Figueres Olsen	National Liberation Party	739,339	49.62
	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría	Social Christian Unity Party	711,328	47.74
	Miguel Zúñiga Díaz	Democratic Force	28,274	1.90
	Rafael Ángel Matamoros Mesén	Christian National Alliance^es	4,980	0.33
	Jorge González Martén	National Independent Party^es	2,426	0.16
	Norma Vargas Duarte	General Union Party^es	2,150	0.14
	Holman Esquivel Garrote	Independent Party	1,600	0.11
Invalid/blank votes			35,882	–
Total			1,525,979	100
Registered voters/turnout			1,881,348	81.11
Source: Nohlen; TSE

By province

Province	Figueres %	Rodríguez%	Zúñiga %	Matamoros %	González %	Vargas %	Esquivel %
San José	49.63	47.29	2.39	0.28	0.16	0.17	0.08
Alajuela	50.30	47.41	1.71	0.29	0.13	0.08	0.09
Cartago	50.33	46.81	2.03	0.35	0.20	0.16	0.12
Heredia	49.89	46.91	2.57	0.27	0.14	0.13	0.08
Guanacaste	50.03	48.66	0.62	0.26	0.14	0.08	0.20
Puntarenas	49.06	49.09	0.75	0.59	0.19	0.21	0.12
Limón	46.26	51.27	1.26	0.56	0.23	0.17	0.25
Total	49.62	47.74	1.90	0.33	0.16	0.14	0.11

Popular Vote National Liberation   49.62% Social Christian Unity   47.74% Democratic Force   1.90% Christ. Nat. Alliance   0.33% Nat. Independent   0.16% General Union   0.14% Independent   0.11%

Legislative Assembly

Popular Vote
National Liberation			44.61%
Social Christian Unity			40.38%
Democratic Force			5.32%
General Union			1.72%
Christian Nat. Alliance			1.43%
Peoples' Vanguard			1.36%
Cartago Agrarian Union			1.11%
Other			4.07%

Seats
National Liberation			49.12%
Social Christian Unity			43.86%
Democratic Force			3.51%
Cartago Agrarian Union			1.75%
National Agrarian			1.75%

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	658,258	44.61	28	+3
	Social Christian Unity Party	595,802	40.38	29	-4
	Democratic Force	78,454	5.32	2	+2
	General Union Party^es	25,420	1.72	0	-1
	Christian National Alliance^es	21,064	1.43	0	0
	Peoples' Vanguard Party	20,026	1.36	0	0
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	16,336	1.11	1	0
	National Agrarian Party	13,589	0.92	1	+1
	National Independent Party^es	12,767	0.87	0	0
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	11,630	0.79	0	0
	Independent Party	9,213	0.62	0	0
	Limonese Authentic Party	5,468	0.37	0	0
	Agrarian Labour Action Party	3,859	0.26	0	0
	Independent Guanacaste Party	2,843	0.19	0	New
	National Convergence Party	864	0.06	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		50,031	–	–	–
Total		1,525,624	100	57	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,881,348	81.11	–	–
Source: TSE; Election Resources

By province

Province	PLN		PUSC		FD		PUGEN		ANC		PVP		PNI		Others
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	44.21	10	39.76	9	8.30	2	2.34	0	1.53	0	1.84	0	1.50	0	0.52	0
Alajuela	46.36	5	41.26	5	3.43	0	0.40	0	1.15	0	0.62	0	0.35	0	6.43	0
Cartago	43.93	3	37.73	2	3.39	0	2.47	0	0.88	0	0.66	0	0.61	0	10.33	1
Heredia	45.93	3	40.93	2	7.86	0	1.73	0	1.18	0	1.28	0	0.51	0	0.58	0
Guanacaste	47.23	3	44.02	2	1.88	0	0.73	0	0.61	0	-	-	0.43	0	5.09	0
Puntarenas	45.81	3	43.63	3	1.85	0	2.49	0	3.33	0	2.04	0	0.55	0	0.30	0
Limón	36.85	1	37.14	2	0.96	0	0.46	0	1.28	0	2.51	0	0.36	0	20.44	1
Total	44.61	28	40.38	25	5.32	2	1.72	0	1.43	0	1.36	0	0.87	0	4.31	2

Local governments

Alderpeople
National Liberation			49.45%
Social Christian Unity			42.65%
Democratic Force			4.04%
Regionalist			2.57%
General Union			0.74%
Peoples' Vanguard			0.37%
Independent			0.18%

Municipal Syndics
National Liberation			75.47%
Social Christian Unity			24.53%

Parties		Popular vote			Alderpeople		Municipal Syndics
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/-	Total	+/-
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	684,648	46.36	+3.64	269	+37	323	+162
	Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC)	612,918	41.51	-5.19	232	-42	105	-160
	Democratic Force (FD)	72,412	4.90	+4.31	22	+22	0	0
	Generaleña Union Party (PUG)	24,148	1.64	-0.48	4	0	0	0
	Peoples' Vanguard Party (PVP)	19,069	1.29	New	2	New	0	New
	National Agrarian Party (PAN)	16,667	1.13	+0.75	7	+5	0	0
	Alajuelense Democratic Action (PADA)	11,549	0.78	+0.78	3	+3	0	0
	National Independent Party (PNI)	8,717	0.59	-0.37	0	0	0	0
	Independent Party (PI)	6,036	0.41	+0.07	1	0	0	0
	Agrarian Labour Action Party (PALA)	4,979	0.34	-0.07	0	-3	0	New
	Independent Guanacaste Party (PGI)	4,878	0.33	New	2	New	0	New
	Limonense Authentic Party (PAL)	4,534	0.31	+0.03	1	0	0	0
	National Convergence Party (PCN)	3,563	0.24	New	0	New	0	New
	New Alajuelita Party (PALNU)	2,584	0.17	+0.02	1	0	0	0
Total		1,476,702	100.00	-	544	+18	428	+2
Invalid votes		49,170	3.23
Votes cast / turnout		1,525,872	81.11
Abstentions		355,344	18.89
Registered voters		1,691,689	100%
Sources[4]

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. Picado León, Hugo. "Proceso de selección de candid atos a presidente y diputados en el PLN y el PUSC (1990-2006)" (PDF). Proyecto OIR/OPAL.
4. "Elecciones Regidurías 1994". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.