Costa Rican general election, 1949

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General elections were held in Costa Rica on 4 October 1949. [1] They followed the introduction of a new constitution after the Costa Rican Civil War. Voters elected a Vice-President (as none had been chosen in the 1948 elections and the Legislative Assembly. The result was a victory for the National Unity Party, which won 71.7% of the vote. Voter turnout was 43.8% in the vice-presidential election and 49.2% in the parliamentary election. [2]

Costa Rica country in Central America

Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around 5 million in a land area of 51,060 square kilometers. An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José with around 2 million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.

The Costa Rican Civil War was the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history. It lasted for 44 days, during which approximately 2,000 people are believed to have died. The conflict was precipitated by the vote of the Costa Rican Legislature, dominated by pro-government representatives, to annul the results of the presidential elections held in February, alleging that the triumph of opposition candidate Otilio Ulate had been achieved by fraud.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats
National Unity Party 55,80471.7
Constitutional Party 12,25415.7
Social Democratic Party 5,1696.6
Demócrata cortesista1,9312.5
Unión Cataginesa1,3831.8
Demócrata alajuelense1,3051.7
Invalid/blank votes0--
Total77,846100
Source: Nohlen

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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, p156