Costa Rican general election, 2002

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Costa Rican general election, 2002
Flag of Costa Rica.svg
  1998 3 February 2002 (2002-02-03) (first round)
7 April 2002 (2002-04-07) (second round)
2006  

  Defense.gov News Photo 050511-D-9880W-053 (cropped).jpg Rolando Araya cropped.jpg
Nominee Abel Pacheco Rolando Araya
Party Social Christian Unity National Liberation
Home state San José Alajuela
Popular vote776,278563,202
Percentage58.0%42.0%

Costa Rica general election 2002 - Legislative & Presidential Election Results.svg
Map on the left shows the seats won by each party by province. The map on the right shows which party won the plurality in each province in both rounds of the Presidential election.

President before election

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
Social Christian Unity

Elected President

Abel Pacheco
Social Christian Unity

Coat of arms of Costa Rica.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Costa Rica

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]

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.

Abel Pacheco Costa Rican physician and politician

Abel Pacheco de la Espriella was president of Costa Rica between 2002 and 2006, representing the Social Christian Unity Party (Partido Unidad Social Cristiana – PUSC). He ran on a platform to continue free market reforms and to institute an austerity program, and was elected, in a second electoral round, with 58% of the vote in April 2002.

Social Christian Unity Party political party

The Social Christian Unity Party is a centre-right political party in Costa Rica.

Contents

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]

National Liberation Party (Costa Rica) political party

The National Liberation Party, nicknamed the verdiblancos, is a political party in Costa Rica. The party is a member of the Socialist International.

Citizens Action Party (Costa Rica)

The Citizens' Action Party is a center-left political party in Costa Rica.

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]

Progressivism is the support for or advocacy for improvement of society by reform. As a philosophy, it is based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition.

Democratic Force (Costa Rica) political party

Democratic Force nicknamed “El Naranjazo” was a political party in Costa Rica.

Libertarian Movement (Costa Rica)

The Libertarian Movement Party is a political party based on classical liberalism in Costa Rica. It was founded in May 1994. After an important protagonism during early 2000s with its perennial nominee Otto Guevara among the main candidates and reaching third place in 2006 and 2010, it was affected by several corruption scandals and lack of funds, the party gradually suffered a debacle in 2014 ending in fourth on the presidential ticket, and fifth in Parliament. Later losing all its mayors in the mid-term local election of 2016, to finally having its worst results in 2018 with Guevara's candidacy reaching only 1% of support and losing all seats in Congress.

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]

Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica legislative branch of the government of Costa Rica

The Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislative branch of the government of Costa Rica. The national congress building is located in the city capital, San José, specifically in El Carmen District in San José Canton.

Results

President

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Abel Pacheco Social Christian Unity Party 590,27738.58776,27857.95
Rolando Araya Monge National Liberation Party 475,03031.05563,20242.05
Ottón Solís Citizens' Action Party 400,68126.19
Otto Guevara Libertarian Movement 25,8151.69
Justo Orozco Álvarez Costa Rican Renewal Party 16,4041.07
Walter Muñoz Céspedes National Integration Party 6,2350.41
Vladimir De la Cruz De Lemos Democratic Force 4,1210.27
Walter Coto Molina Coalition Change 2000 3,9700.26
Rolando Angulo ZeledónGeneral Union Party es 2,6550.17
Daniel Reynolds VargasNational Patriotic Party es 1,6800.11
Marvin Calvo MontoyaChristian National Alliance es 1,2710.08
José Hine García National Rescue Party 9050.06
Pablo Galo Angulo CasasolaIndependent Workers' Party es 8010.05
Invalid/blank votes39,57333,463
Total1,569,4181001,372,943100
Registered voters/turnout2,279,85168.842,279,85160.22
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 %
Bandera de San Jose (Costa Rica).svg  San José 36.628.531.11.60.80.60.20.7
Bandera de la Provincia de Alajuela.svg  Alajuela 37.834.124.71.40.90.30.20.6
Bandera de Cartago (Costa Rica).svg  Cartago 35.431.828.41.90.70.50.41.0
Bandera de la Provincia de Heredia.svg  Heredia 36.126.833.21.61.10.40.20.7
Bandera de la Provincia de Puntarenas.svg  Puntarenas 45.033.815.82.51.70.20.30.9
Bandera de la Provincia de Limon.svg  Limón 48.628.414.92.83.10.30.41.5
Bandera de la Provincia de Guanacaste.svg  Guanacaste 44.340.612.10.91.20.20.20.8
Total38.631.126.21.71.10.40.30.9

Second round

Province PUSC % PLN %
Bandera de San Jose (Costa Rica).svg  San José 57.742.3
Bandera de la Provincia de Alajuela.svg  Alajuela 56.143.9
Bandera de Cartago (Costa Rica).svg  Cartago 55.644.4
Bandera de la Provincia de Heredia.svg  Heredia 58.141.9
Bandera de la Provincia de Puntarenas.svg  Puntarenas 59.740.3
Bandera de la Provincia de Limon.svg  Limón 67.033.0
Bandera de la Provincia de Guanacaste.svg  Guanacaste 57.142.9
Total58.042.0

Parliament

Legislative Assembly-Popular vote
Social Christian Unity
29.8%
National Liberation
27.1%
Citizens' Action
25.3%
Libertarian Movement
9.3%
Costa Rican Renewal
3.6%
Democratic Force
2.0%
National Integration
1.7%
Other
4.8%
Legislative Assembly-Seats
Social Christian Unity
33.33%
National Liberation
29.82%
Citizens' Action
24.56%
Libertarian Movement
10.52%
Costa Rican Renewal
1.75%
ASLE14.png
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Christian Unity Party 453,20129.819–8
National Liberation Party 412,38327.117–6
Citizens' Action Party 409,03025.314New
Libertarian Movement 142,1529.36+5
Costa Rican Renewal Party 54,6993.610
Democratic Force 30,1722.00–3
National Integration Party 26,0841.70–1
Coalition Change 2000 12,9920.80New
Agrarian Labour Action Party 10,8900.70–1
Workers' Independent Party8,0440.50New
National Patriotic Party7,1230.50New
Cartago Agrarian Union Party 6,9740.500
Christian National Alliance Party6,8250.40New
General Union Party5,8830.400
National Rescue Party 4,9370.300
National Agrarian Party2,5950.20New
Cartago Agrarian Force Party1,3900.10New
National Convergence1,3480.10New
Invalid/blank votes47,484
Total1,569,338100570
Registered voters/turnout2,279,85168.8
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province PUSC PLN PAC ML PRC FD PIN Other
%S%S%S%S%S%S%S%S
Bandera de San Jose (Costa Rica).svg  San José 27.1624.2527.0611.823.611.701.802.80
Bandera de la Provincia de Alajuela.svg  Alajuela 30.2430.5420.727.512.801.301.405.40
Bandera de Cartago (Costa Rica).svg  Cartago 25.7225.4220.827.312.003.704.5010.40
Bandera de la Provincia de Heredia.svg  Heredia 27.5124.3127.6210.713.502.301.003.00
Bandera de la Provincia de Puntarenas.svg  Puntarenas 37.8229.8112.9110.014.201.800.403.20
Bandera de la Provincia de Limon.svg  Limón 37.3226.2212.718.115.602.700.809.40
Bandera de la Provincia de Guanacaste.svg  Guanacaste 37.9239.1210.302.806.201.200.402.20
Total29.81927.11722.0149.363.612.001.704.60

Maps

President

First round

Runoff

Parliament

Source: Atlas Electoral

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 Nohlen, p. 150.
  3. "Election profile: Costa Rica". International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2011.Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  4. Landsford, Tom. Political Handbook of the World 2014 . Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  5. Landsford, Tom. Political Handbook of the World 2012 . 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] Check |url= value (help). Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "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. 156157.