Costa Rican general election, 2002

Costa Rican general election, 2002

February 3, 2002 (2002-02-03) (first round) April 7, 2002 (2002-04-07) (second round)

Nominee Abel Pacheco Rolando Araya Party PUSC PLN Popular vote 776,278 563,202 Percentage 58.0% 42.0%

President before election Miguel Ángel Rodríguez PUSC Elected President Abel Pacheco PUSC

Costa Rica
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Costa Rica
President Luis Guillermo Solís Vice Presidents Helio Fallas Ana Helena Chacón Legislative Assembly Assembly President Henry Mora Jiménez Supreme Court of Justice Political parties Recent elections General: 2006 2010 2014 CAFTA referendum 2007 Administrative divisions Provinces Cantons Districts Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

General elections were held in Costa Rica on February 3, 2002.^[1] For the first time in the country's history, no candidate in the presidential election passed the 40% threshold.^[2] This meant a second round of voting had to be held on April 7, which saw Abel Pacheco of the Social Christian Unity Party defeat the National Liberation Party's Rolando Araya Monge.^[3]

The parliamentary election was also fragmented owing to the emergence of a well-supported third party (the Citizens' Action Party), breaking the two-party mould of previous elections.^[4] The Social Christian Unity Party emerged as the largest party, but held only 19 of the 57 seats,^[5][6] nine fewer than the previous lowest since the number of seats was raised to 57 in the 1960s.^[7] The result did not favour Pacheco, affecting his ability to govern and forcing him to seek alliances and consensus to get legislation approved.^[8]

Despite the close contest, voter turnout was only 68.8% on February 3, the lowest since the 1958 elections. For the second round of the presidential elections it fell to 60.2%, the lowest since 1949.^[9]

Background

Before the election, the country's Supreme Electoral Tribinal attempted to make several reforms to the electoral system. These included allowing independents to run in local elections, using electronic voting machines, allowing Costa Ricans living abroad to vote, and allowing voters to choose the top two places on parliamentary lists.^[2] However, the changes were rejected by the Legislative Assembly, which noted that independent candidature was incompatible with the constitution, and that electronic voting could not be guaranteed to be secure or transparent.^[2]

Results

President

Parliament

References

Elections and referendums in Costa Rica Presidential elections 1844 1847 1853 1859 1860 1863 1866 1889 1893 1897 1901 1905 1909 1913 1917 1919 1923 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1953 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Parliamentary elections 1844 1847 1853 1859 1860 1863 1866 1889 1893 1897 1901 1905 1909 1913 1915 1917 1919 1921 1923 1925 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 (Feb) 1948 (Dec) 1949 1953 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Referendums 1870 2007