General elections were held in Costa Rica on 1 February 1998.[ 1] 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.[ 2]
1998 Costa Rican general election
Presidential election
Turnout 69.99% (pp )
Results by canton
Parliamentary election
Legislative Assembly
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province
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.[ 3] 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 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 .[ 4]
Candidate Party Votes % Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Social Christian Unity Party 652,160 46.96 José Miguel Corrales Bolaños National Liberation Party 618,834 44.56 Vladimir de la Cruz [es ] Democratic Force 41,710 3.00 Walter Muñoz Céspedes [es ] National Integration Party 19,934 1.44 Sherman Thomas Jackson Costa Rican Renewal Party 19,313 1.39 Álvaro González Espinoza Democratic Party 12,952 0.93 Federico Malavassi Calvo [es ] Libertarian Movement 5,874 0.42 Jorge González Martén [es ] National Independent Party 4,218 0.30 Alejandro Madrigal Benavides Christian National Alliance Party [es ] 3,545 0.26 Norma Vargas Duarte [es ] United People 3,075 0.22 Rodrigo Gutiérrez Schwanhäuser [es ] New Democratic Party [es ] 3,025 0.22 Marina Volio Brenes [es ] National Rescue Party 2,681 0.19 Yolanda Gutiérrez Ventura Independent Party [es ] 1,377 0.10 Total 1,388,698 100.00 Valid votes 1,388,698 96.98 Invalid votes 36,318 2.54 Blank votes 6,897 0.48 Total votes 1,431,913 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 2,045,980 69.99 Source: Election Resources
Province
Rodríguez %
Corrales %
de la Cruz %
Muñoz %
Thomas %
González %
Malavassi %
Other %
San José
42.94
46.72
3.33
2.16
1.81
1.15
0.58
1.31
Alajuela
46.86
45.67
3.13
0.96
1.21
0.92
0.30
0.95
Cartago
44.35
47.69
3.16
1.37
0.81
0.99
0.29
1.34
Heredia
43.39
46.35
3.45
1.63
2.12
1.41
0.35
1.30
Guanacaste 55.63
40.61
1.76
0.30
0.58
0.14
0.15
0.83
Puntarenas
56.23
38.57
1.88
0.47
0.52
0.26
0.40
1.67
Limón
59.58
32.18
2.62
0.88
1.51
0.63
0.54
2.06
Total
46.96
44.56
3.00
1.44
1.39
0.93
0.42
1.30
The country was for the time still under a heavy two-party system dynamics[ 5] [ 6] [ 7] 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 [ 8] 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.
Party Votes % Seats +/– Social Christian Unity Party 569,792 41.18 27 +2 National Liberation Party 481,933 34.83 23 –5 Democratic Force 79,826 5.77 3 +1 Libertarian Movement 42,640 3.08 1 New National Integration Party 38,408 2.78 1 New Costa Rican Renewal Party 27,892 2.02 1 New Democratic Party 17,060 1.23 0 New Agrarian Labour Action Party 16,955 1.23 1 +1 United People 15,028 1.09 0 0 National Independent Party 12,794 0.92 0 0 General Union Party [es ] 12,583 0.91 0 0 New Democratic Party [es ] 12,476 0.90 0 New National Rescue Party 9,588 0.69 0 New Christian National Alliance Party [es ] 9,176 0.66 0 0 National Agrarian Party [es ] 7,497 0.54 0 –1 Cartago Agrarian Union Party 7,138 0.52 0 –1 Alajuelense Democratic Action 6,614 0.48 0 0 Independent Party [es ] 6,025 0.44 0 0 Change Now 2,223 0.16 0 New National Convergence Party 2,197 0.16 0 0 Authentic Limonense Party 2,167 0.16 0 0 Cartago Agrarian Force Party 1,892 0.14 0 New Independent Guanacaste Party 1,623 0.12 0 0 Total 1,383,527 100.00 57 0 Valid votes 1,383,527 96.71 Invalid votes 32,709 2.29 Blank votes 14,343 1.00 Total votes 1,430,579 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 2,045,980 69.92 Source: Election Resources
Province
PUSC
PLN
FD
ML
PIN
PRC
PD
PU
Others
%
S
%
S
%
S
%
S
%
S
%
S
%
S
%
S
%
S
San José
37.60
8
36.21
8
7.31
2
4.64
1
4.69
1
2.44
1
1.60
0
0.88
0
4.63
0
Alajuela
40.89
4
35.52
4
5.20
1
1.40
0
1.30
0
1.38
0
1.08
0
0.41
0
12.82
1
Cartago
39.39
3
36.49
3
5.14
0
1.71
0
2.08
0
0.97
0
1.15
0
1.75
0
11.32
0
Heredia
39.20
3
35.85
2
7.12
0
2.45
0
3.22
0
2.48
0
1.76
0
1.12
0
6.80
0
Guanacaste
50.05
3
33.66
2
4.19
0
1.08
0
0.55
0
3.10
0
0.21
0
0.62
0
6.54
0
Puntarenas
50.50
4
32.42
2
3.05
0
3.95
0
0.97
0
1.16
0
0.70
0
1.60
0
5.65
0
Limón
47.71
2
24.30
2
2.70
0
3.29
0
1.11
0
2.49
0
0.74
0
2.88
0
14.78
0
Total
41.18
27
34.83
23
5.77
3
3.08
1
2.78
1
2.02
1
1.23
0
1.09
0
8.02
1
Party Votes % Seats Alderpeople +/– Municipal +/– Social Christian Unity Party 564,531 40.87 271 +39 295 +190 National Liberation Party 488,870 35.39 226 –43 145 –178 Democratic Force 85,313 6.18 24 +2 0 0 Libertarian Movement 33,544 2.43 4 New 0 New Costa Rican Renewal Party 25,654 1.86 0 New 0 New National Integration Party 23,896 1.73 3 New 0 New Democratic Party 19,204 1.39 0 New 0 New Agrarian Labour Action Party 15,157 1.10 7 +7 2 +2 National Independent Party 14,975 1.08 2 +2 0 0 General Union Party [es ] 13,378 0.97 3 –1 0 0 New Democratic Party [es ] 12,804 0.93 2 New 0 New United People 12,216 0.88 1 +1 0 0 National Rescue Party 11,385 0.82 2 New 0 New Escazu's Progressive Yoke 9,699 0.70 4 New 3 New Independent Party [es ] 8,095 0.59 3 +3 0 0 National Agrarian Party [es ] 7,827 0.57 5 –2 0 0 21st Century Curridabat 5,117 0.37 2 New 1 New National Convergence Party 4,044 0.29 1 +1 0 0 Alajuelense Democratic Action 4,027 0.29 1 –2 0 0 Party of the Sun 3,628 0.26 2 New 2 New Christian National Alliance Party [es ] 2,787 0.20 0 0 0 0 Independent Guanacaste Party 2,610 0.19 2 0 0 0 Cartago Agrarian Force Party 2,430 0.18 0 New 0 New Authentic Limonense Party 1,871 0.14 1 0 0 0 Humanist Party of Montes de Oca 1,870 0.14 1 New 0 New Change Now 1,790 0.13 0 New 0 New Independent Belemite Party 1,386 0.10 1 New 0 New New Alajuelita Party 1,350 0.10 1 0 0 0 Humanist Party of Heredia 1,128 0.08 0 New 0 New Golfitenean Action Party 694 0.05 0 New 0 New Total 1,381,280 100.00 569 +34 448 +19 Valid votes 1,381,280 96.55 Invalid/blank votes 49,341 3.45 Total votes 1,430,621 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 2,045,173 69.95 Source: TSE[ 9]
^ 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" . Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013 .^ Landsford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014 ISBN 9781483386263 . Retrieved 13 March 2016 . ^ Landsford, Tom (2 April 2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012 ISBN 9781608719952 . Retrieved 13 March 2016 . ^ Greenspana, Eliot; Gill, Nicholas; O'Malley, Charlie; Gilsenan, Patrick; Perill, Jisel. Elecciones legislativas de Costa Rica de 2002 . ^ Lopez, Jaime (18 July 2013). "Civic Groups Move Against Gay Marriage in Costa Rica" . Costa Rica Star. Retrieved 13 March 2016 . ^ "Elecciones Regidurías 1998" . tse.go.cr (in Spanish). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved 21 May 2020 .
11.12pp)
San José
Alajuela
Cartago
Heredia
Guanacaste
Puntarenas
Limón
