2014_Costa_Rican_general_election

2014 Costa Rican general election

2014 Costa Rican general election

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General elections were held in Costa Rica on Sunday, 2 February 2014 to elect a new president, two vice presidents, and 57 Legislative Assembly lawmakers.[1] In accordance with Article 132 of the constitution, incumbent President Laura Chinchilla Miranda was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term.[2]

Quick Facts Turnout, Nominee ...

The ruling National Liberation Party put forward San José Mayor Johnny Araya Monge as its presidential candidate; the Libertarian Movement party nominated former legislator Otto Guevara Guth; the leftist Broad Front nominated José María Villalta Florez-Estrada; and the center-left Citizens' Action Party nominated Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera.

Opinion polls in December 2013 showed Araya ahead with 37 percent, Villalta close behind at 32 percent, Guevara at 15 percent, and Solís trailing at eight percent, suggesting the likelihood of a run-off vote in February.[3][4] Villalta's strong showing in the polls caused concern among Araya supporters and business leaders in Costa Rica. La Nacion, Costa Rica's most important newspaper and a historical ally of Liberacion Nacional, began a concerted series of attacks against Villalta, comparing him to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. Political experts later concluded that this focus on Villalta helped Luis Guillermo Solis in the election.[5]

In the presidential election, Solís and Araya came first and second, respectively, with neither candidate reaching 40 percent of the valid poll in the first round of voting, so a second round of voting was held from 6am to 6pm on 6 April, the first run-off election since 2002.[3][6]

In a surprise move, Araya announced on 6 March that he would abandon his campaign for the run-off election. He stated that after weighing his chances it was only sensible to withdraw from the campaign. Recent polls had indicated that he was trailing badly behind Solís and he believed that spending money on campaigning was not prudent. Although Araya's action effectively handed the presidency to Solís, the run-off still had to take place since Costa Rican law does not allow for a candidate to withdraw from a run-off election.[7] Ultimately, Solís won the second round with 78 percent of the vote, a historic high in Costa Rica.[8][9] Unlike the first round, Solís won a majority in every province.[10]

Presidential candidates

There were thirteen political parties on the 2014 ballot, each one with their corresponding ticket of a president and two vice-presidents.[11]

More information Party, President ...

Opinion polls

If no candidate surmounts the 40% threshold, the two candidates who would qualify for the runoff are marked. No poll accurately predicted the first or second round voting results.

More information Date, Pollster ...

Results

Results of vote overseas, gold PAC, green PLN and yellow FA.

President

The results of the first-round final count were declared on 17 February 2014,[25] with the results of the second-round eighth count being declared on 7 April 2014:[26]

More information Candidate, Party ...

By province

First round

More information Province %, PAC % ...

Second round

More information Province, PAC % ...

Legislative Assembly

Although Solís' PAC received the most votes in the presidential elections,[27] the party did not won in the parliamentary voting making PLN the largest party in the Assembly with 18 deputies over PAC's 13.[28]

Leftist party Broad Front surprised with its results, achieving 9 seats,[29] first time ever that the Left achieved such a big number.[28] Social Christian Unity Party recovered part of its former influence[29] by turning into the fourth political party in legislative size even when its candidate Rodolfo Piza was fifth in the presidential vote.[30] The opposite happened to Otto Guevara’s right-wing Libertarian Movement,[29] fourth in presidential votes,[30] which stood fifth in legislative elections, and as a result, the number of its deputies was reduced from 9 to 4.[29][28] Oscar Lopez’s PASE party also suffered a diminishment in number of deputies from 4 to 1 (Lopez himself).[29][31]

Three Christian parties, oriented toward the Protestant minority[32] and very socially conservative, also achieved deputies: Costa Rican Renewal Party 2, National Restoration 1 and Christian Democratic Alliance 1.[31]

More information Party, Votes ...

By province

More information Province, PLN ...

Candidates elected

Fifty-seven legislators were elected and took office on 1 May 2014, eleven of whom had been members of the Legislative Assembly in the past. Five were from the National Liberation Party: Antonio Álvarez Desanti, Juan Luis Jiménez, Olivier Jiménez, Rolando González, and Sandra Piszk. Two were from the Citizen Action Party: Epsy Campbell and Ottón Solís. Mario Redondo of the Christian Democratic Alliance served previously with the Social Christian Unity Party. The others were Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement Party, Oscar López of Accessibility Without Exclusion, and Jorge Rodríguez of the Social Christian Unity Party.[33] The full list is as follows:[34]

More information Province, Cédula ...

References

  1. [1]
    Costa Rica's 2014 election season is officially open Archived 2013-11-11 at the Wayback Machine The Tico Times, 2013-10-02.
  2. [2]
    Constitución Política de la República de Costa Rica Archived February 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Asamblea Legislativa de Costa Rica. Retrieved: 2013-12-28. (in Spanish)
  3. [3]
    Newest poll shows Araya and Villalta heading for a runoff election Archived 2014-01-09 at the Wayback Machine The Tico Times, 2013-12-18.
  4. [4]
    Encuesta de Unimer: Costa Rica sin favorito a dos meses de elecciones Archived 2014-01-07 at the Wayback Machine La Nación, 2013-12-01. (in Spanish)
  5. [5]
    Frajman, Eduardo "The General Election in Costa Rica, February/April 2014" Electoral Studies, Vol. 35, 2014, pp. 61-66
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    Supreme Elections Tribunal begins manual recount of presidential votes Archived 2014-02-05 at the Wayback Machine The Tico Times, 2014-02-04.
  7. [7]
    Costa Rica government's presidential candidate withdraws Archived 2014-03-12 at the Wayback Machine BBC World News, 2014-03-06.
  8. [8]
    Live Costa Rica presidential election results Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine The Tico Times, 2014-04-06.
  9. [9]
    "Mapa de Resultados Elecciones Costa Rica Abril 2014" [Costa Rican Map of April 2014 Electoral Results]. RESULTADOS ELECTORALES EN MAPA SEGUNDA RONDA ELECTORAL (in Spanish). San José: La Nación. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  10. [10]
    Bermúdez Aguilar, Andrés; Efrén López Madrigal (7 April 2014). "PAC ganó elecciones con más de un millón de votos" [PAC wins election with more than one million votes]. La Prensa Libre (Costa Rica) (in Spanish). San José. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  11. [11]
    "Atlas Electoral Presidenciales 2014 Papeleta". Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  12. [12]
    "Diario Extra". Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  13. [13]
    "Encuesta del CIEP para UNIVERSIDAD: Oferta de candidatos no atrae votantes". Archived from the original on 19 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  14. [14]
    "Nueva encuesta de Unimer: Johnny Araya sostiene su ventaja electoral sin un rival claro". Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  15. [15]
    "Sondeo de la UCR: Araya firme, Villalta y Guevara se reparten lo que dejó el doctor - Nacional - Noticias | Teletica". Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  16. [16]
    "Diario Extra - Araya con 50%, Villalta 19% y Guevara con 16,9%". Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  17. [17]
    "Johnny Araya ganaría elecciones en primera ronda según encuesta | Monumental". Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  18. [18]
    "Araya baja, Villalta sube y se disputan primer lugar". Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  19. [19]
    "La Republica NET". Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  20. [20]
    "Nueva encuesta anticipa lucha cerrada por la presidencia del país | Repretel". Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  21. [21]
    "País indeciso camina hacia una segunda ronda electoral". Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  22. [22]
    Encuesta del CIEP: Johnny Araya frena caída y toma leve ventaja, Semanario, 21 January 2014, archived from the original on 3 February 2014, retrieved 2 February 2014
  23. [23]
    Cerrada lucha por la Presidencia entre cuatro candidatos, informa-TICO.com, 28 January 2014, archived from the original on 1 February 2014, retrieved 2 February 2014
  24. [24]
    Nueva encuesta del CIEP: Indecisión crece a pocos días de las elecciones, Semanario, 28 January 2014, archived from the original on 3 February 2014, retrieved 2 February 2014
  25. [25]
    Resultados Electorales: Total General Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones 2014-02-17. (in Spanish)
  26. [26]
    Corte Número 8 Archived 2014-04-08 at the Wayback Machine Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones 2014-04-07. (in Spanish)
  27. [27]
    Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. ISBN 9781483386263. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  28. [28]
    "Asamblea Legislativa (Legislative Assembly)". IPU.org. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  29. [29]
    Lehring, Gary (15 February 2014). "Costa Rican legislative elections show growing voter dissatisfaction with traditional choices". The Tico Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  30. [30]
    "February 7, 2010 Presidential Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Elections Resources. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  31. [31]
    "February 2, 2014 Legislative Assembly Election Results - Costa Rica Totals". Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  32. [32]
    Lopez, Jaime (18 July 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica". Costa Rica Star. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  33. [33]
    11 lawmakers return to Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly for second term Archived 2014-05-02 at the Wayback Machine The Tico Times, 2014-05-01.
  34. [34]
    Declaratoria de elección de Diputados a la Asamblea Legislativa de la República de Costa Rica 2014-2018 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, 2014-03-03. (in Spanish)
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