1982 Costa Rican general election

1982 Costa Rican general election
	Presidential election
Turnout	78.63% ( 2.64pp)
	Results by canton
President before election; Rodrigo Carazo; CU	Elected President ; Luis Alberto Monge; PLN
	Legislative election
	All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly; 29 seats needed for a majority
	Results by province

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 7 February 1982.^[1] Luis Alberto Monge of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 79%.^[2]

Affected by a deep economic crisis and tensions with Somoza's Nicaragua due to Rodrigo Carazo's support of the FSLN, Carazo's government suffered from extremely low popularity. This naturally affected the Unity Coalition (Carazo's party) and its candidate Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier giving to PLN and its candidate trade union leader and farmer Luis Alberto Monge a landslide victory and the party's biggest parliamentary group in its history (33 deputies). Nevertheless, Unity remained as the second most voted party in the election as Calderón was able to attract the traditional and very loyal Calderonista vote.^[3] The crisis was also beneficial for the Left as it achieved a historical high voting and four seats in Parliament (the biggest group since 1948) with Dr. Rodrigo Gutiérrez repeating candidacy from United People. Another candidate was former president Mario Echandi by the conservative and anti-Communist National Movement, but Echandi's candidacy was testimonial receiving almost as many votes as Gutierrez (3% each), according to some due to his incapacity to understand modern times when personal wealth and family origin was not enough to win an election.^[4]

Results

President


Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Luis Alberto Monge	National Liberation Party	568,374	58.80
	Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier	Unity Coalition	325,187	33.64
	Mario Echandi Jiménez	National Movement [es]	37,127	3.84
	Rodrigo Alberto Gutiérrez Sáenz [es]	United People	32,186	3.33
	Edwin Chacón Madrigal	Independent Party [es]	1,955	0.20
	Edwin Retana Chaves	Democratic Party	1,747	0.18
Total			966,576	100.00

Valid votes			966,576	97.47
Invalid votes			20,241	2.04
Blank votes			4,862	0.49
Total votes			991,679	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,261,127	78.63
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	Monge %	Calderón %	Echandi %	Gutiérrez %	Chacón %	Retana %
Province
San José	58.4	32.5	5.3	3.5	0.2	0.1
Alajuela	59.5	35.5	2.8	2.0	0.2	0.2
Cartago	61.9	32.8	2.7	2.1	0.3	0.2
Heredia	57.0	36.3	2.6	3.7	0.1	0.2
Puntarenas	58.3	32.8	3.3	5.0	0.3	0.3
Limón	53.9	33.8	3.6	7.8	0.6	0.4
Guanacaste	60.7	34.6	2.4	1.8	0.2	0.2
Total	58.8	33.6	3.8	3.3	0.2	0.2

Parliament



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Liberation Party	527,231	55.15	33	+8
	Unity Coalition	277,998	29.08	18	–9
	United People	61,465	6.43	4	+1
	National Movement [es]	34,437	3.60	1	New
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	12,486	1.31	1	New
	National Democratic Party	11,575	1.21	0	New
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	7,235	0.76	0	–1
	Costa Rican Concord Party	5,014	0.52	0	0
	Independent Party [es]	4,671	0.49	0	0
	Authentic Limonense Party	3,893	0.41	0	0
	Peoples' Action Party	3,546	0.37	0	New
	Democratic Party	2,672	0.28	0	0
	Cartago Parliamentary Union Party	1,047	0.11	0	New
	Authentic Puntarenense Party	1,036	0.11	0	0
	Worker-Peasant Party	976	0.10	0	New
	National Liberal Progressive Republican Party	708	0.07	0	New
Total		955,990	100.00	57	0

Valid votes		955,990	96.41
Invalid votes		24,560	2.48
Blank votes		11,016	1.11
Total votes		991,566	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,261,127	78.63
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province	PLN		CU		PU		MN		PND		PI		PD		Others

	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
San José	55.1	12	28.5	6	7.2	2	4.7	1	1.5	0	0.4	0	0.3	0	2.3	0
Alajuela	55.5	6	30.1	3	3.3	0	2.4	0	0.7	0	0.4	0	0.2	0	7.4	1
Cartago	57.2	4	25.5	2	3.8	0	2.2	0	0.6	0	1.2	0	0.3	0	9.2	0
Heredia	54.0	3	32.4	2	8.3	0	3.5	0	1.1	0	0.4	0	0.2	0	-	-
Puntarenas	55.7	3	28.6	2	8.6	1	3.2	0	2.0	0	0.3	0	0.4	0	1.2	0
Limón	43.5	2	27.0	1	14.2	1	3.4	0	1.8	0	1.4	0	0.4	0	8.4	0
Guanacaste	59.4	3	32.8	2	3.9	0	3.1	0	0.6	0	-	-	0.2	-	-	-
Total	55.2	33	29.1	18	6.4	4	3.6	1	1.2	0	0.5	0	0.3	0	3.7	0

Local governments


Party		Votes	%	Seats
Party		Votes	%	Alderpeople	+/–	Municipal syndics	+/–
	National Liberation Party	535,478	55.91	299	+86	403	+226
	Unity Coalition	287,825	30.05	164	–66	11	–217
	United People	59,161	6.18	21	–2	0	0
	National Movement [es]	40,079	4.19	4	New	0	New
	National Democratic Party	9,455	0.99	2	New	0	New
	Alajuelense Democratic Action	9,359	0.98	2	New	0	New
	Peoples' Action Party	4,762	0.50	0	New	0	New
	Independent Party [es]	3,514	0.37	0	–1	0	–1
	General Union Party [es]	1,852	0.19	1	New	0	New
	Authentic Limonense Party	1,763	0.18	1	0	0	0
	Worker-Peasant Party	1,463	0.15	1	0	0	0
	New Alajuelita Party	1,073	0.11	1	New	0	New
	Authentic Puntarenense Party	722	0.08	0	–1	0	0
	Cartago Agrarian Union Party	695	0.07	0	New	0	New
	Democratic Party	475	0.05	0	0	0	0
Total		957,676	100.00	496	+19	414	+8

Valid votes		957,676	96.58
Invalid/blank votes		33,869	3.42
Total votes		991,545	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,269,676	78.09
Source: TSE^[5]

References

^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
^ Nohlen, p157
^ Lehoucq, Fabrice (27 August 2012). The Politics of Modern Central America. ISBN 9780521515061. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
^ White, Stephen; Webb, Paul (20 September 2007). Party Politics in New Democracies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199289653. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1982". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

[DN-1] Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p155 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6

[2] Nohlen, p157

[3] Lehoucq, Fabrice (27 August 2012). The Politics of Modern Central America. ISBN 9780521515061. Retrieved 16 August 2016.

[4] White, Stephen; Webb, Paul (20 September 2007). Party Politics in New Democracies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199289653. Retrieved 16 August 2016.

[5] "Elecciones Regidurías 1982". tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

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