2014 Costa Rican general election

2014 Costa Rican general election
← 2010 2 February 2014 (first round)
6 April 2014 (second round)		 2018 →
Presidential election
Turnout68.48% (first round) Decrease 0.64pp
56.50% (second round)
 
Nominee Luis Guillermo Solís Johnny Araya
Party PAC PLN
Running mate Helio Fallas
Ana Helena Chacón 		Jorge Pattoni
Silvia Lara
Popular vote 1,338,321 374,844
Percentage 77.77% 22.23%
President before election

Laura Chinchilla
PLN

Elected President

Luis Guillermo Solís
PAC

Legislative election
All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
PLN Johnny Araya Monge 25.71 18 −6
PAC Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera 23.48 13 +2
FA José María Villalta Florez-Estrada 13.14 9 +8
PUSC Rodolfo Piza Rocafort 10.02 8 +2
PML Otto Guevara Guth 7.94 4 −5
PRC Justo Orozco Álvarez 4.11 2 +1
PREN Carlos Avendaño Calvo 4.06 1 0
PASE Óscar Andrés López Arias 3.97 1 −3
ADC Mario Redondo Poveda 1.17 1 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province
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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]

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]

Party President First Vicepresident Second Vicepresident
Citizens' Action Party Luis Guillermo Solís

Foreign Ministry's Chief of Staff (1986-1990), Ambassador of Central American Affairs (1994-1998)

Helio Fallas

Minister of Planning (1990-1994), Minister of Housing (2002-2006)

Ana Helena Chacón

Vice Minister of Public Safety (2002-2006), Deputy (2006-2010)

National Liberation Party Johnny Araya

San José Mayor (1998- )

Jorge Pattoni

General Manager Dos Pino's Corporation (1992-2013)

Silvia Lara

President of Joint Social Welfare Institute (2002-2006)

Broad Front José María Villalta Florez-Estrada

Deputy (2010–2014)

María Dagmare Facio Fernández Walter Antillón Montealegre
Libertarian Movement Otto Guevara

Deputy
(1998–2002)

Thelmo Vargas Madrigal Abriel Gordienko López
Social Christian Unity Party Rodolfo Emilio Piza de Rocafort

Executive President of Costa Rican Department of Social Security (1998–2002)

Carlos Eduardo Araya Guillén Patricia Vega Herrera
New Homeland Party José Miguel Corrales Bolaños

Deputy (2002–2006)

Lizbeth Dora Quesada Tristán Óscar Aguilar Bulgarelli
National Restoration Party Carlos Luis Avendaño Calvo Rose Mary Zúñiga Ramírez Pablo Josué Chaves Illanes
Costa Rican Renewal Party Justo Orozco Álvarez Ana Dinorah Rodríguez Rojas Rafael Ángel Matamoros Mesén
Accessibility without Exclusion (PASE) Óscar Andrés López Arias Zulema Villalta Bolaños Marvin Alberto Marín Zúñiga
New Generation Party Sergio Mena Díaz Luz Mary Alpízar Loaiza Carlos Francisco Moreno Bustos
Workers' Party (PT) Héctor Enrique Monestel Herrera Jessica Barquero Barrantes Greivis González López
National Advance Party José Manuel Echandi Meza Carmen Lidia Pérez Ramírez Gabriel Zamora Márquez
National Integration Party Walter Muñoz Céspedes Vivian González Trejos Rodrigo Arguedas Cortés

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.

Date Pollster

Johnny Araya
(PLN)

Otto Guevara
(ML)

Rodolfo Piza
(R. Hernández before October 2013)
(PUSC)

L.G. Solís
(PAC)

J.M. Villalta
(FA)

Others

Aug 2013 Borge y Asociados[12] 52% 9.7% 23% 8.2% 3.5%
Aug 2013 CIEP[13] 20.2% 1.4% 12.4% 4.1% 4.5%
Sep 2013 Unimer[14] 27.5% 9.7% 10.6% 4.4% 19% 26%
Oct 2013 CIEP[15] 24% 9.9% 3% 4% 9.7% 1.3%
Nov 2013 Borge y Asociados[16] 26% 16% 4% 4% 19% 26%
Nov 2013 Cid Gallup[17] 45% 15% 8% 10% 21%
Dec 2013 Unimer[4] 19% 19% 5% 8% 22% 11%
Dec 2013 CIEP[18] 17% 10% 3% 5% 15% 1%
Dec 2013 Cid Gallup[19] 37% 15% 5% 9% 32%
14 Jan 2014 Cid Gallup[20] 39% 18% 5% 7% 26%
16 Jan 2014 Unimer[21] 20.3% 20.2% 3.6% 5.4% 22.2% 5.8%
21 Jan 2014 CIEP[22] 20.4% 11.2% 3.1% 9.5% 15.3% 4.6%
28 Jan 2014 Cid Gallup[23] 35.6% 17.6% 6.5% 15.6% 21% 3.8%
28 Jan 2014 CIEP[24] 17.4% 7.3% 3.4% 11.6% 14.4%

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]

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Luis Guillermo SolísCitizens' Action Party629,86630.641,338,32177.77
Johnny Araya MongeNational Liberation Party610,63429.71382,60022.23
José María Villalta Florez-EstradaBroad Front354,47917.25
Otto GuevaraLibertarian Movement233,06411.34
Rodolfo Piza RocafortSocial Christian Unity Party123,6536.02
José Miguel Corrales BolañosNew Fatherland Party30,8161.50
Carlos AvendañoNational Restoration Party27,6911.35
Justo OrozcoCosta Rican Renewal Party16,7210.81
Óscar LópezAccessibility without Exclusion10,3390.50
Sergio MenaNew Generation Party5,8820.29
Héctor MonestelWorkers' Party4,8970.24
José EchandNational Advance Party4,3880.21
Walter MuñozNational Integration Party3,0420.15
Total2,055,472100.001,720,921100.00
Valid votes2,055,47297.921,720,92198.95
Invalid/blank votes43,7472.0818,3141.05
Total votes2,099,219100.001,739,235100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,065,66768.483,078,32156.50
Source: Election Resources

By province

First round

Province % PAC % PLN % FA % ML % PUSC % PPN % PREN % Other %
 San José 36.2 28.5 15.2 10.0 5.3 1.4 1.4 1.9
 Alajuela 31.1 29.8 18.3 10.4 5.4 2.1 1.1 1.8
 Cartago 34.8 27.8 14.7 11.4 6.3 2.1 0.9 1.9
 Heredia 38.6 25.8 16.5 9.8 1.2 1.2 1.6 5.3
 Puntarenas 14.1 34.4 23.2 14.6 8.5 0.7 2.0 2.6
 Limón 14.6 29.2 22.2 18.1 7.7 0.8 1.9 5.6
 Guanacaste 14.9 40.8 19.1 12.8 7.8 0.9 1.3 2.5
Total 30.6 29.7 17.3 11.3 6.1 1.5 1.4 2.2

Second round

Province PAC % PLN %
 San José 77.6 22.3
 Alajuela 78.9 21.1
 Cartago 80.3 19.6
 Heredia 80.8 19.1
 Puntarenas 73.1 26.8
 Limón 77.5 22.4
 Guanacaste 69.7 30.2
Total 77.8 22.1

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]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberation Party526,53125.7118–6
Citizens' Action Party480,96923.4813+2
Broad Front269,17813.149+8
Social Christian Unity Party205,24710.028+2
Libertarian Movement162,5597.944–5
National Restoration Party84,2654.1110
Costa Rican Renewal Party83,0834.062+1
Accessibility without Exclusion81,2913.971–3
New Fatherland Party42,2342.060New
New Generation Party25,0601.220New
Christian Democratic Alliance23,8861.171New
National Advance Party19,8950.970New
Workers' Party12,9980.6300
National Integration Party11,3070.5500
Transporters' Party5,6390.280New
Patriotic Alliance4,8530.2400
Viva Puntarenas Party4,4170.220New
Green Party2,1480.100New
Homel, Equality and Dem. Party of Puntarenas1,3760.070New
Homeland, Equality and Democracy Party1,0880.050New
New Socialist Party2770.010New
Total2,048,301100.00570
Valid votes2,048,30197.72
Invalid/blank votes47,8542.28
Total votes2,096,155100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,065,66768.38
Source: Election Resources

By province

Province PLN PAC FA PUSC ML PREN PRC PASE PPN PNG Other
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
 San José 23.5 5 27.2 5 12.1 2 8.8 2 7.5 2 5.3 1 3.9 1 4.2 1 2.0 0 1.8 0 3.5 0
 Alajuela 27.4 4 25.2 3 14.0 2 8.3 1 7.7 1 3.2 0 4.0 0 4.1 0 3.0 0 0.8 0 2.4 0
 Cartago 24.4 2 23.5 2 11.1 1 10.7 1 7.1 0 2.4 0 1.5 0 4.6 0 2.2 0 0.9 0 11.6 1
 Heredia 23.9 2 31.5 2 12.7 1 9.1 1 7.6 0 4.7 0 2.4 0 3.9 0 1.6 0 1.0 0 1.6 0
 Puntarenas 28.5 2 12.8 1 14.8 1 15.3 1 9.0 0 4.2 0 3.3 0 3.9 0 0.9 0 1.3 0 5.9 0
 Limón 26.0 1 10.5 0 15.9 1 11.4 1 10.6 1 3.2 0 12.6 1 3.6 0 0.9 0 0.9 0 4.4 0
 Guanacaste 34.6 2 11.5 0 16.0 1 14.0 1 9.0 0 3.5 0 4.6 0 1.6 0 2.4 0 0.5 0 2.2 0
Total 25.7 18 23.5 13 13.1 9 10.0 8 7.9 4 4.1 1 3.9 2 3.9 1 2.1 0 1.2 0 4.4 1

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]

Province Cédula Candidate Party
 San José 104300205 Ottón Solís Fallas PAC
San José 106070983 Epsy Campbell Barr PAC
San José 104990698 Víctor Hugo Morales Zapata PAC
San José 108460152 Marcela Guerrero Campos PAC
San José 601780481 Ruperto Marvin Atencio Delgado PAC
San José 104890842 Antonio Álvarez Desanti PLN
San José 103570156 Sara Ángela Piszk Feinzilber PLN
San José 400850902 Carlos Manuel Arguedas Ramírez PLN
San José 700490709 Maureen Cecilia Clarke Clarke PLN
San José 202751177 Juan Luis Jiménez Succar PLN
San José 104710261 Ana Patricia Mora Castellanos FA
San José 104110109 Jorge Arturo Arguedas Mora FA
San José 105270922 Humberto Vargas Corrales PUSC
San José 106730022 Rosibel Ramos Madrigal PUSC
San José 105440893 Otto Guevara Guth PML
San José 112260846 Natalia Díaz Quintana PML
San José 108820284 Gerardo Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz PRN
San José 107890915 Óscar Andrés López Arias PASE
San José 108910592 Gonzalo Alberto Ramírez Zamora PRC
 Alajuela 202740540 Rolando González Ulloa PLN
Alajuela 202700539 Aracelli Segura Retana PLN
Alajuela 109780035 Michael Jake Arce Sancho PLN
Alajuela 206470280 Silvia Vanessa Sánchez Venegas PLN
Alajuela 204060127 Javier Francisco Cambronero Arguedas PAC
Alajuela 900500822 Nidia María Jiménez Vásquez PAC
Alajuela 110350156 Franklin Corella Vargas PAC
Alajuela 204830663 Edgardo Vinicio Araya Sibaja FA
Alajuela 203440441 Ligia Elena Fallas Rodríguez FA
Alajuela 104410073 Rafael Ángel Ortiz Fábrega PUSC
Alajuela 106730801 José Alberto Alfaro Jiménez PML
 Cartago 302880372 Paulina María Ramírez Portuguez PLN
Cartago 302350106 Julio Antonio Rojas Astorga PLN
Cartago 104110201 Emilia Molina Cruz PAC
Cartago 106670558 Marco Vinicio Redondo Quirós PAC
Cartago 302990664 José Francisco Camacho Leiva FA
Cartago 301940611 Jorge Rodríguez Araya PUSC
Cartago 105890526 Mario Redondo Poveda ADC
 Heredia 105120548 Henry Mora Jiménez PAC
Heredia 204740785 Marlene Madrigal Flores PAC
Heredia 108490121 Rony Monge Salas PLN
Heredia 401300696 Lorelly Trejos Salas PLN
Heredia 401470385 José Antonio Ramírez Aguilar FA
Heredia 401300350 William Alvarado Bogantes PUSC
 Guanacaste 106070406 Juan Rafael Marín Quirós PLN
Guanacaste 501880832 Marta Arabela Arauz Mora PLN
Guanacaste 204240362 Ronal Vargas Araya FA
Guanacaste 502950673 Johnny Leiva Badilla PUSC
 Puntarenas 503090116 Karla Vanessa Prendas Matarrita PLN
Puntarenas 202820663 Olivier Ibo Jiménez Rojas PLN
Puntarenas 110230742 Gerardo Vargas Rojas PUSC
Puntarenas 502560320 Carlos Enrique Hernández Álvarez FA
Puntarenas 104160452 Laura María Garro Sánchez PAC
 Limón 900840835 Danny Hayling Carcache PLN
Limón 302420343 Gerardo Vargas Varela FA
Limón 502170327 Abelino Esquivel Quesada PRC
Limón 107880624 Luis Alberto Vásquez Castro PUSC
Limón 303050502 Carmen Quesada Santamaría PML

References

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