2010 Costa Rican general election

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2010 Costa Rican general election
Flag of Costa Rica (state).svg
  2006 7 February 2010 [1] 2014  
Presidential election
Turnout69.12% (Increase2.svg 3.91pp)
  Laura-Chinchilla-cropped.jpg Otton Solis Fallas, PAC - Costa Rica (cropped).JPG Otto Guevara (cropped 2).jpg
Candidate Laura Chinchilla Ottón Solís Fallas Otto Guevara Guth
Party PLN PAC PML
Running mate Alfio Piva
Luis Liberman
Mónica Segnini
Julio Humphreys
Mario Quirós
Lorena San Román
Popular vote896,516478,877399,788
Percentage46.91%25.05%20.92%

2010 Costa Rican presidential election by province.svg
Results by province

President before election

Oscar Arias
PLN

Elected President

Laura Chinchilla
PLN

Legislative election

All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeaderVote %Seats+/–
PLN Laura Chinchilla Miranda 37.2724−1
PAC Ottón Solís Fallas 17.6111−6
PML Otto Guevara Guth 14.509+3
PASE Óscar Andrés López Arias9.054+3
PUSC Luis Fishman Zonzinski 8.166+1
PRC Mayra González León3.851+1
FA Eugenio Trejos Benavides3.6310
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2010 - Diputados por Provincia.svg
Results by province

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 7 February 2010. The ruling party before the election, the center-left National Liberation Party, put forward former Vice-President Laura Chinchilla as its presidential candidate, while the libertarian, Movimiento Libertario nominated former legislator Otto Guevara. Opinion polls before voting started consistently put Chinchilla as the front-runner, a trend confirmed in the election-night count, which showed her garnering 46.76% of the vote. [2]

Contents

The election was supervised by observers from several countries, as well as from the Organization of American States. [3] The incumbent president, Óscar Arias, was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term. This was the last time as of 2019, that the National Liberation Party has gotten more than 30% of the vote, the last time to this date that they have won the presidency, and the last time it has won any province in what is known as the Central Valley (the four provinces in the interior of the country: San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago).

Presidential candidates

Candidates included:

Two weeks before the election, Patriotic Alliance and National Integration Party's candidates, Rolando Araya and Walter Muñoz, stopped their campaigns and endorsed Citizens' Action Party's candidate Otton Solís, in an effort to build a progressive alliance against Laura Chinchilla. [4]

Parliamentary elections

The swifting from a two-party system to a multi-party system was much more evident in this election [5] [6] [7] [8]

For the then three major parties; PLN, PAC and ML the voting for the presidential ballot was superior to the support in the legislative, as for example PLN presidential candidate Laura Chinchilla [5] received 46% [9] of the votes and PLN's legislative ballot only 37%. [1] Similarly PAC's candidate Ottón Solís with 25% [9] presidential against 17% legislative [1] and Otto Guevara with 20% [9] oppose to 14% legislative. [1] Contrary to PUSC whose candidate Luis Fishman received 3% [9] electoral support while his party received 8%. [1]

This was at the time PAC's worst electoral result in its history having the smallest faction in the Parliament [6] and ML's best result with to this date its biggest. [6] PLN only lost one seat. Left-wing Broad Front maintained its only seat in the person of future presidential nominee José María Villalta Florez-Estrada [6] and two Christian parties [10] for the first time had deputies at the same time; Costa Rican Renewal Party and its provincial offshoot National Restoration. [6]

Opinion polls

Results

President

At 9:08 p.m. local time on election day, 7 February second-placed candidate Otton Solis conceded defeat to Laura Chinchilla, who will become Costa Rica's first female president. With approximately 40% of the vote counted, Chinchilla was consistently surpassing the 40% threshold for victory in the first round, leading Solis by 47% to 24%, with third-placed candidate Otto Guevara trailing at 21.5%. [12]

CandidatePartyVotes%
Laura Chinchilla National Liberation Party 896,51646.91
Ottón Solís Citizens' Action Party 478,87725.05
Otto Guevara Libertarian Movement 399,78820.92
Luis Fishman Zonzinski Social Christian Unity Party 74,1143.88
Óscar López Accessibility without Exclusion 36,1041.89
Mayra González Costa Rican Renewal Party 13,9450.73
Eugenio Trejos Broad Front 6,7820.35
Rolando Araya Monge Patriotic Alliance 3,1580.17
Walter Muñoz National Integration Party 2,0490.11
Total1,911,333100.00
Valid votes1,911,33397.97
Invalid votes32,5551.67
Blank votes6,9590.36
Total votes1,950,847100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,822,49169.12
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province  % PLN  % PAC  % ML  % PUSC  % PASE  % PRC  %Other %
Bandera de San Jose (Costa Rica).svg San José 46.628.917.63.62.10.60.6
Bandera de la Provincia de Alajuela.svg Alajuela 45.326.521.93.21.80.80.5
Bandera de Cartago (Costa Rica).svg Cartago 49.723.519.44.22.10.40.7
Bandera de la Provincia de Heredia.svg Heredia 46.627.619.53.21.80.60.7
Bandera de la Provincia de Puntarenas.svg Puntarenas 48.917.326.74.41.30.80.6
Bandera de la Provincia de Limon.svg Limón 41.617.531.45.01.71.90.9
Bandera de la Provincia de Guanacaste.svg Guanacaste 51.415.923.36.11.61.20.6
Total46.825.120.93.91.90.70.8

Legislative Assembly

Costa Rica Legislative Assembly 2010.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party 708,04337.2724–1
Citizens' Action Party 334,63617.6111–6
Libertarian Movement 275,51814.509+3
Accessibility without Exclusion 171,8589.054+3
Social Christian Unity Party 155,0478.166+1
Costa Rican Renewal Party 73,1503.851+1
Broad Front 68,9873.6310
National Restoration Party 29,5301.5510
Patriotic Alliance 28,3491.490New
National Integration Party 14,6430.7700
Cartago Agrarian Union Party 11,8620.6200
Heredia Restoration Party 7,9530.420New
Alajuela Restoration Party 7,2980.380New
Cartaginese Transparency Party4,5900.240New
Green Ecologist Party 2,9010.150New
Elderly Alliance Party2,7240.140New
Alajuelan Familiar Force Party1,6090.080New
Workers' and Farmers' Movement1,1270.060New
Total1,899,825100.00570
Valid votes1,899,82597.39
Invalid votes30,8061.58
Blank votes20,0771.03
Total votes1,950,708100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,822,49169.11
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province PLN PAC ML PUSC PASE PRC FA PREN AP Other
 %S %S %S %S %S %S %S %S %S %S
Bandera de San Jose (Costa Rica).svg San José 35.5719.0412.327.4211.123.014.714.311.101.60
Bandera de la Provincia de Alajuela.svg Alajuela 38.2519.9216.526.518.516.501.302.001.900.80
Bandera de Cartago (Costa Rica).svg Cartago 38.9317.0113.117.617.912.802.80-01.208.50
Bandera de la Provincia de Heredia.svg Heredia 37.0219.1213.917.308.702.904.804.001.900.50
Bandera de la Provincia de Puntarenas.svg Puntarenas 39.7214.3118.6113.815.104.302.20-01.101.00
Bandera de la Provincia de Limon.svg Limón 33.3212.0120.1110.215.608.607.30-01.201.80
Bandera de la Provincia de Guanacaste.svg Guanacaste 43.1311.6013.5111.0010.005.102.20-03.100.30
Total37.32417.61114.598.269.043.913.612.411.502.00

Municipal Councils

The elections of municipal councilors of Costa Rica in 2010 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.

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party 700,65937.05196–32
Citizens' Action Party 331,16717.51100–39
Libertarian Movement 255,41113.5176+40
Social Christian Unity Party 174,4629.2255–4
Accessibility without Exclusion 143,2737.5822New
Costa Rican Renewal Party 51,3022.7110+6
Broad Front 45,3992.401+1
Patriotic Alliance 28,7381.523New
National Restoration Party 24,6901.311–1
21st Century Curridabat 5,6430.304+2
Renew Alajuela Party13,4030.711New
National Integration Party 10,1210.5400
Heredia Restoration Party 8,7970.470New
Escazu's Progressive Yoke 8,1450.4320
Green Ecologist Party 5,3190.2800
Sancarlenean Alliance Coalition (FAAP)4,8950.261New
Cartago Agrarian Union Party 9,0290.481–1
Ramonense League Coalition (FAAP)4,6620.251New
Palmarenean Union Party4,1580.2220
Party of the Sun4,0770.2220
Fuenteovejuna Civic Party of Tibás3,6550.191New
Alajuela Restoration Party 3,4140.180New
Santo Domingo Advancement Movement3,3980.181New
Goicoechea in Action Party3,3480.181+1
United Barva Coalition (FAPASE)3,0170.161New
Alajuelense Coalition (FAAP)2,9800.161New
The Bridge and Paths of Mora2,9620.161–1
Authentic Labourer of Coronado Party2,8480.1510
Ateniense Union Party2,6020.141New
Barbarenean Integration Party2,3690.131New
Elderly Alliance Party2,2790.120New
Unique Abangarean Party2,2290.122New
Cantonal Action Independent Siquirres Party2,1160.1110
United Montes de Oca Coalition (FA–PH)2,0860.110New
Social Active Organization2,0250.111New
Independent Belemite Party2,0140.1110
Live Buenos Aires Party1,7910.091New
Communal Pro-Curri Party1,7180.090–1
United Heredia Coalition (FA–PH)1,4030.070New
Quepeña Action Party1,3860.070–2
Autonomous Oromontan Party1,1700.0610
Workers' and Peasants' Movement1,1200.0600
Naranjenean Action Party1,0470.060New
Alfaro Ruiz Peoples' Coalition (FAAP)1,0230.051New
Tarrazú First Party9910.050New
Barbarenean Coalition (FAAP)8310.040New
Ecological Garabito Party7090.0410
United Talamanca Party5080.030New
Aguirre Labour Organization Party4560.0200
Poasenean Patriotic Front Coalition (FAAP)3450.020New
Total1,891,190100.00496–4
Valid votes1,891,19097.17
Invalid/blank votes55,0662.83
Total votes1,946,256100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,822,49168.96
Source: TSE [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "7 February 2010 Legislative Assembly Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Election Resources. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  2. "(in Spanish)". Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  3. Jara, Francisco (6 February 2010). "AFP: First female poised for Costa Rica presidency". Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  4. "Araya y Muñoz renuncian a ser candidatos y apoyan a Solís".
  5. 1 2 "Panorama of Parliament Elections 2010" (PDF). International Parliamentary Union.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Lehring, Gary (15 February 2014). "Costa Rican legislative elections show growing voter dissatisfaction with traditional choices". The Tico Times. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  7. Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. ISBN   9781483386263 . Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  8. Landsford, Tom (2 April 2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012. ISBN   9781608719952 . Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "7 February 2010 Presidential Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Elections Resources. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  10. Lopez, Jaime (18 July 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica". Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  11. "Chinchilla Leads, Guevara Gains in Costa Rica: Angus Reid Global Monitor". Angus-reid.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  12. "Solís reconoce victoria de Chinchilla - EL PAÍS". nacion.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  13. "Elecciones Regidurías 2010". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

Bruce M. Wilson and Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cordero: "The general election in Costa Rica, February 2010". In Electoral Studies, Volume 30, Issue 1, March 2011, pages 231-234.