From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1998 Costa Rican general election

none

Field	Value
country	Costa Rica
flag_year	state
type	presidential
previous_election	1994 Costa Rican general election
previous_year	1994
next_election	2002 Costa Rican general election
next_year	2002
election_date	1 February 1998
module	{{Infobox election
embed	yes
election_name	Presidential election
type	presidential
registered	2,045,980
turnout	69.99% ( 11.12pp)
image1	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría.jpg
nominee1	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
running_mate1	Astrid Fischel
Elizabeth Odio
party1	Social Christian Unity Party
popular_vote1	652,160
percentage1	46.96%
image2	José Miguel Corrales Bolaños D-141 A.jpg
nominee2	José Miguel Corrales
running_mate2	Rose Marie Karpinsky
Joyce Zurcher
party2	National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)
popular_vote2	618,834
percentage2	44.56%
map_image	Elección Presidencial de Costa Rica (1998) (Distritos Administrativos).svg
map_caption	Results by district
Rodríguez:
Corrales:
title	President
before_election	José María Figueres
before_party	National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)
after_election	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
after_party	Social Christian Unity Party
module	{{Infobox legislative election
embed	yes
election_name	Legislative election
seats_for_election	All 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly
majority_seats	29
turnout	69.92% ( 11.17pp)
party1	Social Christian Unity Party
leader1	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
percentage1	41.18
seats1	27
last_election1	25
party2	National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)
leader2	José Miguel Corrales Bolaños
percentage2	34.83
seats2	23
last_election2	28
party3	Democratic Force (Costa Rica)
leader3
percentage3	5.77
seats3	3
last_election3	2
party4	Libertarian Movement (Costa Rica)
leader4
percentage4	3.08
seats4	1
last_election4	New
party5	National Integration Party (Costa Rica)
leader5
percentage5	2.78
seats5	1
last_election5	New
party6	Costa Rican Renovation Party
leader6	Justo Orozco
percentage6	2.02
seats6	1
last_election6	New
party7	Agrarian Labour Action Party
color7	brown
leader7	Guido Octavio Vargas Artavia
percentage7	1.23
seats7	1
last_election7	0
map	Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 1998 - Diputados por Provincia.svg
map_caption	Results by province

Elizabeth Odio

Joyce Zurcher

Rodríguez:
Corrales:

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 1 February 1998. Miguel Ángel Rodríguez of the Social Christian Unity Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 70%, the lowest since the 1950s.

An economic recession, a teachers' strike due to a pensions' reform and some corruption scandals made President José María Figueres' government highly unpopular. Thus, government endorsed candidate José Miguel Corrales tried to distance himself from Figueres as much as possible. Corrales won over former President of Congress Jorge Walter Coto Molina in PLN's primaries but the discovery of Voter fraud damaged PLN's image and split the party. On the contrary in PUSC, previous candidate Miguel Ángel Rodríguez was seen as the natural nominee for this election, and despite the fact that deputy Luis Fishman was rumored as a possible internal opponent, he finally declined and Rodríguez was nominated without the need of primaries, thus keeping the party united. During Figueres' administration the so call Figueres-Calderón Pact was signed between the leaders of the two main parties (and sons of the two caudillos of the 1948 civil war); him and former president Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (Rodríguez political rival) to approve several mutually beneficial laws for both major parties, something that caused outrage among large segments of the population and started the downfall of the two-party system.

Results

By province

Province	Rodríguez %	Corrales %	de la Cruz %	Muñoz %	Thomas %	González %	Malavassi %	Other %	Social Christian Unity Party}}"
San José	42.94	National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)}}; color:white;"	46.72	3.33	2.16	1.81	1.15	0.58	1.31
Alajuela	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	46.86	45.67	3.13	0.96	1.21	0.92	0.30	0.95
Cartago	44.35	National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)}}; color:white;"	47.69	3.16	1.37	0.81	0.99	0.29	1.34
Heredia	43.39	National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)}}; color:white;"	46.35	3.45	1.63	2.12	1.41	0.35	1.30
Guanacaste	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	55.63	40.61	1.76	0.30	0.58	0.14	0.15	0.83
Puntarenas	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	56.23	38.57	1.88	0.47	0.52	0.26	0.40	1.67
Limón	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	59.58	32.18	2.62	0.88	1.51	0.63	0.54	2.06
Total	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	46.96	44.56	3.00	1.44	1.39	0.93	0.42	1.30

Parliament

The country was for the time still under a heavy two-party system dynamics and the two main parties at the time; National Liberation Party and Social Christian Unity Party won most of the votes. Nevertheless, some third forces also won seats on the Parliament, among them left-wing Democratic Force won two seats. It was also the first time that liberal Libertarian Movement and Christian conservative Costa Rican Renewal won seats (one each) in the Parliament both for their future presidential candidates Otto Guevara and Justo Orozco respectively. The small party National Integration Party led by medic Walter Muñoz won its only seat in history until the 2018 election.

By province

Province	PUSC	PLN	FD	ML	PIN	PRC	PD	PU	Others	Social Christian Unity Party}}"		National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)}}"		Democratic Force (Costa Rica)}}"	Libertarian Movement (Costa Rica)}}"	National Integration Party (Costa Rica)}}"
San José	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	37.60	8	36.21	8	7.31	2	4.64	1	4.69	1	2.44	1	1.60	0.88	4.63	0
Alajuela	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	40.89	4	35.52	4	5.20	1	1.40	0	1.30	0	1.38	0	1.08	0.41	12.82	1
Cartago	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	39.39	3	36.49	3	5.14	0	1.71	0	2.08	0	0.97	0	1.15	1.75	11.32	0
Heredia	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	39.20	3	35.85	2	7.12	0	2.45	0	3.22	0	2.48	0	1.76	1.12	6.80	0
Guanacaste	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	50.05	3	33.66	2	4.19	0	1.08	0	0.55	0	3.10	0	0.21	0.62	6.54	0
Puntarenas	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	50.50	4	32.42	2	3.05	0	3.95	0	0.97	0	1.16	0	0.70	1.60	5.65	0
Limón	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	47.71	2	24.30	2	2.70	0	3.29	0	1.11	0	2.49	0	0.74	2.88	14.78	0
Total	Social Christian Unity Party}}; color:white;"	41.18	27	34.83	23	5.77	3	3.08	1	2.78	1	2.02	1	1.23	1.09	8.02	1

Local governments

syndics|seattype4=+/–

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]] (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p155 {{ISBN. 978-0-19-928357-6
Nohlen, pp156-157
Fernández, Oscar ''Costa Rica. La reafirmación del bipartidismo'' Revista Nueva Sociedad No.131, PP. 4-10
"Copia archivada".
(20 March 2014). "Political Handbook of the World 2014". SAGE Publications.
(2 April 2012). "Political Handbook of the World 2012".
"Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2002". Frommer's Central America.
(July 18, 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica".
"Elecciones Regidurías 1998". Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1998-elections-in-central-america 1998-in-costa-rica parliamentary-elections-in-costa-rica presidential-elections-in-costa-rica

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1998 Costa Rican general election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report