Workers' Party (Costa Rica)

Workers' Party Partido de los Trabajadores
President	Hector Monestel
Founded	1 May 2012
Ideology	Trotskyism Central American unionism
Political position	Far-left
International affiliation	International Revolutionary Workers' Current - Fourth International (CORI-QI) [1]
Colours	Yellow and red
Legislative Assembly	0 / 57
Party flag
Website
http://ptcostarica.org/
Politics of Costa Rica Political parties Elections

The Workers' Party (Spanish : Partido de los Trabajadores) is a far-left Trotskyist political party of Costa Rica. The party was founded on 1 May 2012 on the basis of the student organization Movement toward Socialism led by labor union leader and lawyer Hector Monestel, ^[2] and currently holds no seats in parliament nor municipal offices. It is a former member of the International Workers League – Fourth International ^[1] . Highly critical of the more moderate Broad Front (the main left-wing party of Costa Rica), it proclaims itself as a "classist and socialist alternative". Internationalism is one of its guidelines and as such it proposes the re-establishment of the Federal Republic of Central America abolished in 1838, reuniting all Central American countries in one single socialist Federation. It also defends feminist, environmentalist and pro-LGBTI ideas.^{[ citation needed ]}

The party contested the 2014 elections with Monestel as nominee obtaining 4,897 votos (0,24%) for the presidential ticket and 12,998 votos (0.63%) for the parliamentary ticket gaining no seats. ^[3] It took part in the mid-period 2016 municipal elections obtaining only 742 votes, reason why the Electoral Court disbanded the party as Costa Rica's electoral law requires a minimal of 3000 votes for a party to keep legal standing. The party had to make all the process for inscription once again starting as new, successfully registering again for the 2018 Costa Rican general election ^[4] nominating labor union leader and high school teacher Jhon Vega as candidate, the party received 4,060 votes and was the least voted option. ^[3]

Electoral performance

Presidential

Election	Candidate	First round				Second round
		Votes	%	Position	Result	Votes	%	Position	Result
2014	Héctor Monestel	4,897	0.24%	11th	Lost	—
2018	Jhon Vega Masís	4,351	0.20%	11th	Lost	—
2022		1,951	0.09%	24th	Lost	—

Parliamentary

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
2014	Héctor Monestel	12,998	0.63%	0 / 57	New	13th	Extra-parliamentary
2018		11,615	0.54%	0 / 57	0	15th	Extra-parliamentary
2022		5,631	0.27%	0 / 57	0	26th	Extra-parliamentary

References

1. "Manifiesto constitutivo de la Corriente Obrera Revolucionaria Internacional – Cuarta internacional" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-12-12.
2. "11 nuevos partidos políticos buscan inscripción para elecciones de 2014". crhoy.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
3. "Resultados 2014". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-01-25.
4. Madrigal, Luis Manuel (2016-08-17). "Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones anula inscripción del Partido de los Trabajadores". Mundo.cr. Retrieved 2016-08-18.