Costa Rican general election, 2002

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Costa Rican general election, 2002
← 1998 February 3, 2002 (2002-02-03) (first round)
April 7, 2002 (2002-04-07) (second round)		 2006 →
  Defense.gov News Photo 050511-D-9880W-053 Abel Pacheco cropped.jpg 132px
Nominee Abel Pacheco Rolando Araya
Party Social Christian Unity National Liberation
Popular vote 776,278 563,202
Percentage 58.0% 42.0%
300px
In blue cantons won by Pacheco, in green cantons won by Araya and in yellow cantons won by Solís
President before election

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
Social Christian Unity

 Elected President

Abel Pacheco
Social Christian Unity

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General elections were held in Costa Rica on February 3, 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 April 7, which saw Abel Pacheco of the Social Christian Unity Party defeat the National Liberation Party's Rolando Araya Monge.[3]

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 Renovation Party won one seat as usual.[7]

Despite the close contest, voter turnout was only 68.8% on February 3, 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 38.6 776,278 58.0
Rolando Araya Monge National Liberation Party 475,030 31.1 563,202 42.0
Ottón Solís Citizens' Action Party 400,681 26.2
Otto Guevara Movimiento Libertario 25,815 1.7
Justo Orozco Álvarez Costa Rican Renovation Party 16,404 1.1
Walter Muñoz Céspedes National Integration Party 6,235 0.4
Vladimir De la Cruz De Lemos Democratic Force 4,121 0.3
Walter Coto Molina Coalition Change 2000 3,970 0.2
Rolando Angulo Zeledón General Union 2,655 0.2
Daniel Reynolds Vargas Patriótico Nacional 1,680 0.1
Marvin Calvo Montoya Christian National Alliance 1,271 0.1
Pablo Angulo Casasola National Rescue Party 905 0.0
Invalid/blank votes 39,573 - 33,463 -
Total 1,569,418 100 1,372,943 100
Source: Nohlen

Parliament

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
Movimiento Libertario 142,152 9.3 6 +5
Costa Rican Renovation 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
Independiente Obrero 8,044 0.5 0 New
Patriótico Nacional 7,123 0.5 0 New
Cartago Agrarian Union Party 6,974 0.5 0 0
Christian National Alliance 6,825 0.4 0 0
General Union 5,883 0.4 0 0
National Rescue Party 4,937 0.3 0 0
Partido Agrario Nacional 2,595 0.2 0 New
Cartago Agrarian Force 1,390 0.1 0 0
Convergencia Nacional 1,348 0.1 0 0
Invalid/blank votes 47,484 - - -
Total 1,569,338 100 57 0
Source: Nohlen

References

  1. ↑ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nohlen, p. 150.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Nohlen, pp. 156–157.
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