2002 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 3 February 2002.[1] For the first time in the country's history, no candidate in the presidential election passed the 40% threshold.[2] This meant a second round of voting had to be held on 7 April which saw Abel Pacheco of the Social Christian Unity Party defeat the National Liberation Party's Rolando Araya Monge.[3]

2002 Costa Rican general election

3 February 2002 (first round) 7 April 2002 (second round)

Presidential election

Nominee Abel Pacheco Rolando Araya Party PUSC PLN Home state San José Alajuela Popular vote 776,278 563,202 Percentage 58.0% 42.0%

President before election Miguel Ángel Rodríguez PUSC Elected President Abel Pacheco PUSC

Legislative election

Party Leader % Seats ± PUSC Abel Pacheco 29.8% 19 -8 PLN Rolando Araya Monge 27.1% 17 -6 PAC Ottón Solís 22.0% 14 New ML Otto Guevara 9.3% 6 +5 PRC Justo Orozco Álvarez 3.6% 1 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Many analysts consider this election the beginning of the end of Costa Rica's decades-long two party system.[4][5][6] For the first time in many years alternative political forces become really relevant in the Parliament and the plenary had three large party groups; PUSC (19), PLN (17) and PAC (14).[7]

While PUSC won the presidential election and the majority in Congress, PLN became the primal opposition force in Parliament. Centre-left PAC with a progressive proposal seem to had gravely affected traditional third forces at the left of the spectrum like Democratic Force that fail to win any seat on that election even when for some years was Costa Rica's main third party.[7] Right-wing Libertarian Movement also increases its representation from one to six deputies[7] while conservative[8] Costa Rican Renewal Party won one seat as usual.[7]

It was the first time in Costa Rica an evangelical Christian party, the Christian National Alliance, nominated a catholic, biologist and professor Marvin Calvo Montoya, as its presidential candidate. It was also the last presidential election of the Christian National Alliance.

Despite the close contest, voter turnout was only 68.8% on 3 February the lowest since the 1958 elections. For the second round of the presidential elections it fell to 60.2%, the lowest since 1949.[9]

Background

Before the election, the country's Supreme Electoral Tribinal attempted to make several reforms to the electoral system. These included allowing independents to run in local elections, using electronic voting machines, allowing Costa Ricans living abroad to vote, and allowing voters to choose the top two places on parliamentary lists.[2] However, the changes were rejected by the Legislative Assembly, which noted that independent candidature was incompatible with the constitution, and that electronic voting could not be guaranteed to be secure or transparent.[2]

Results

President

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Abel Pacheco	Social Christian Unity Party	590,277	38.58	776,278	57.95
	Rolando Araya Monge	National Liberation Party	475,030	31.05	563,202	42.05
	Ottón Solís	Citizens' Action Party	400,681	26.19
	Otto Guevara	Libertarian Movement	25,815	1.69
	Justo Orozco Álvarez	Costa Rican Renewal Party	16,404	1.07
	Walter Muñoz Céspedes	National Integration Party	6,235	0.41
	Vladimir De la Cruz De Lemos	Democratic Force	4,121	0.27
	Walter Coto Molina	Coalition Change 2000	3,970	0.26
	Rolando Angulo Zeledón	General Union Party^es	2,655	0.17
	Daniel Reynolds Vargas	National Patriotic Party^es	1,680	0.11
	Marvin Calvo Montoya	Christian National Alliance^es	1,271	0.08
	José Hine García	National Rescue Party	905	0.06
	Pablo Galo Angulo Casasola	Independent Workers' Party^es	801	0.05
Invalid/blank votes			39,573	–	33,463	–
Total			1,569,418	100	1,372,943	100
Registered voters/turnout			2,279,851	68.84	2,279,851	60.22
Source: TSE, TSE

Popular Vote-First round Social Christian Unity   38.6% National Liberation   31.1% Citizens' Action   26.2% Libertarian Movement   1.7% Costa Rican Renewal   1.1% National Integration   0.4% Other   0.9%

Popular Vote-Second round Social Christian Unity   58% National Liberation   42%

By province

First round

Province %	PUSC %	PLN %	PAC %	ML %	PRC %	PIN %	FD %	Other %
San José	36.6	28.5	31.1	1.6	0.8	0.6	0.2	0.7
Alajuela	37.8	34.1	24.7	1.4	0.9	0.3	0.2	0.6
Cartago	35.4	31.8	28.4	1.9	0.7	0.5	0.4	1.0
Heredia	36.1	26.8	33.2	1.6	1.1	0.4	0.2	0.7
Puntarenas	45.0	33.8	15.8	2.5	1.7	0.2	0.3	0.9
Limón	48.6	28.4	14.9	2.8	3.1	0.3	0.4	1.5
Guanacaste	44.3	40.6	12.1	0.9	1.2	0.2	0.2	0.8
Total	38.6	31.1	26.2	1.7	1.1	0.4	0.3	0.9

Second round

Province	PUSC %	PLN %
	San José	57.7	42.3
Alajuela	56.1	43.9
Cartago	55.6	44.4
Heredia	58.1	41.9
Puntarenas	59.7	40.3
Limón	67.0	33.0
Guanacaste	57.1	42.9
Total	58.0	42.0

Parliament

Popular vote
Social Christian Unity			29.8%
National Liberation			27.1%
Citizens' Action			22.0%
Libertarian Movement			9.3%
Costa Rican Renewal			3.6%
Democratic Force			2.0%
National Integration			1.7%
Other			4.8%

Seats
Social Christian Unity			33.33%
National Liberation			29.82%
Citizens' Action			24.56%
Libertarian Movement			10.52%
Costa Rican Renewal			1.75%

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Christian Unity Party	453,201	29.8	19	–8
	National Liberation Party	412,383	27.1	17	–6
	Citizens' Action Party	334,162	22.0	14	New
	Libertarian Movement	142,152	9.3	6	+5
	Costa Rican Renewal Party	54,699	3.6	1	0
	Democratic Force	30,172	2.0	0	–3
	National Integration Party	26,084	1.7	0	–1
	Coalition Change 2000	12,992	0.8	0	New
	Agrarian Labour Action Party	10,890	0.7	0	–1
	Workers' Independent Party	8,044	0.5	0	New
	National Patriotic Party	7,123	0.5	0	New
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	6,974	0.5	0	0
	Christian National Alliance Party	6,825	0.4	0	New
	General Union Party	5,883	0.4	0	0
	National Rescue Party	4,937	0.3	0	0
	National Agrarian Party	2,595	0.2	0	New
	Cartago Agrarian Force Party	1,390	0.1	0	New
	National Convergence	1,348	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		47,484	–	–	–
Total		1,569,338	100	57	0
Registered voters/turnout		2,279,851	68.8	–	–
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	PUSC		PLN		PAC		ML		PRC		FD		PIN		Other
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	27.1	6	24.2	5	27.0	6	11.8	2	3.6	1	1.7	0	1.8	0	2.8	0
Alajuela	30.2	4	30.5	4	20.7	2	7.5	1	2.8	0	1.3	0	1.4	0	5.4	0
Cartago	25.7	2	25.4	2	20.8	2	7.3	1	2.0	0	3.7	0	4.5	0	10.4	0
Heredia	27.5	1	24.3	1	27.6	2	10.7	1	3.5	0	2.3	0	1.0	0	3.0	0
Puntarenas	37.8	2	29.8	1	12.9	1	10.0	1	4.2	0	1.8	0	0.4	0	3.2	0
Limón	37.3	2	26.2	2	12.7	1	8.1	1	5.6	0	2.7	0	0.8	0	9.4	0
Guanacaste	37.9	2	39.1	2	10.3	0	2.8	0	6.2	0	1.2	0	0.4	0	2.2	0
Total	29.8	19	27.1	17	22.0	14	9.3	6	3.6	1	2.0	0	1.7	0	4.6	0

Municipal Councils

The elections of municipal councilors of Costa Rica in 2002 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.

Alderpeople
Social Christian Unity			35.79%
National Liberation			35.39%
Citizens' Action			20.08%
Regionalist			3.18%
Libertarian Movement			2.58%
Democratic Force			0.80%
National Integration			0.20%
C2000			0.20%
National Rescue			0.20%
Independent Workers'			0.20%

Parties		Popular vote			Alderpeople
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/-
	Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC)	469,305	30.92	-9.94	180	-91
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	443,320	29.21	-6.17	178	-48
	Citizens' Action Party (PAC)	310,201	20.44	New	101	New
	Libertarian Movement (ML)	84,167	5.55	+3.12	13	+9
	Costa Rican Renewal Party (PRC)	54,547	3.59	+1.73	7	+7
	Democratic Force (FD)	40,114	2.64	-3.53	4	-20
	National Integration Party (PIN)	25,038	1.65	-0.08	1	-2
	Coalition Change 2000 (C2000)	17,612	1.16	New	1	New
	Agrarian Labour Action Party (PALA)	9,225	0.61	-0.49	2	-5
	Escazu's Progressive Yoke (YPE)	7,765	0.51	-0.19	3	-1
	National Rescue Party (PRESNA)	7,510	0.49	-0.33	1	New
	Independent Workers' Party (PIO)	7,460	0.49	New	1	New
	National Agrarian Party (PAN)	5,032	0.33	-0.24	1	-4
	Party of the Sun (PdS)	4,880	0.32	+0.06	2	0
	Cartago Agrarian Force (FAC)	4,024	0.27	+0.09	0	New
	21st Century Curridabat (CSXXI)	3,726	0.25	-0.12	1	-1
	Authentic Paraisian Party (PAPAR)	3,264	0.22	New	1	New
	National Convergence Party (PCN)	2,927	0.19	-0.10	0	-1
	General Union Party (PUG)	2,495	0.16	-0.83	0	-3
	Quepeña Action Party (PAQ)	1,956	0.13	New	2	New
	Authentic Sarapiquenean Party (PASAR)	1,779	0.12	New	1	New
	New Alajuelita Party (PALNU)	1,773	0.12	+0.02	1	0
	Humanist Party of Montes de Oca (PH-MdO)	1,212	0.08	-0.06	0	-1
	Alliance for San José Party (PASJ)	1,127	0.07	New	0	New
	Cantonal Action Independent Siquirres Party (PACSI)	1,079	0.07	New	0	New
	Ecological Garabito Party (PEG)	983	0.06	New	2	New
	Humanist Party of San José (PH-SJO)	919	0.06	New	0	New
	Golfitenean Action Party (PAGOL)	772	0.05	-0.00	0	0
	Independent Guanacaste Party (PGI)	759	0.05	-0.14	0	-2
	Independent Belemite Party (PIB)	618	0.04	-0.06	0	-1
	Limonense Conscience Party (PCL)	617	0.04	New	0	New
	Humanist Party of Heredia (PH-Her)	517	0.03	-0.05	0	0
	National Patriotic Party (PPN)	485	0.03	New	0	New
	New Corredores Party (PUG)	457	0.03	New	0	New
	Humanist Party of Barva (PH-Barva)	183	0.01	New	0	New
Total		1,517,848	100.00	-	503	-75
Invalid votes		51,628	3.29
Votes cast / turnout		1,569,476	68.84
Abstentions		710,375	31.16
Registered voters		2,279,851	100%
Sources[10]

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
2. Nohlen, p. 150.
3. "Election profile: Costa Rica". International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
4. Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. ISBN 9781483386263. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
5. Landsford, Tom (2 April 2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012. ISBN 9781608719952. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
6. Greenspana, Eliot; Gill, Nicholas; O'Malley, Charlie; Gilsenan, Patrick; Perill, Jisel. Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2002. Frommer's Central America.
7. "5 February 2002 Legislative Assembly Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Election Resources. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
8. Lopez, Jaime (July 18, 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica". Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
9. Nohlen, pp. 156–157.
10. "Elecciones Regidurías 2002". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.