Costa Rican general election, 2010
Costa Rican general election, 2010
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Costa Rica held parliamentary and presidential elections on February 7, 2010. The ruling party before the election, the center-left National Liberation Party, put forward former Vice-President Laura Chinchilla as its presidential candidate, while the libertarian, Movimiento Libertario nominated former legislator Otto Guevara. Opinion polls before voting started consistently put Chinchilla as the front-runner, a trend confirmed in the election-night count, which showed her garnering 46.76% of the vote.[1]
The election was supervised by observers from several countries, as well as from the Organization of American States.[2] The incumbent President, Óscar Arias, was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term.
Presidential candidates
Candidates included:
Opinion polling
- CID-Gallup 24 January 2010: Chinchilla 43%; Guevara 30%; Solís 15%; Fishman 8%
- Borge & Asociados for Diario Extra opinion poll January 2010: Chinchilla 38.7%; Guevara 18.3%; Solís 9.6%; Fishman 3.7%
- Demoscopía for Al Día January 2010: Chinchilla 45.1%; Guevara 30.1%; Solís 9.5%; Fishman 3.8 %[3]
- December 2009: Chinchilla 36.7%; Guevara 16.2%; Solís 8.5%; Fishman 2.2%
- December 2009: Chinchilla 46.6%; Guevara 19.5%; Solís 8.3%; Fishman 4.1%
- October 2009: Chinchilla 53.0%; Guevara 15.7%; Solís 12.3%; Fishman 1.5%
Presidential election results
At 9:08 p.m. local time on election day, February 7, second-placed candidate Otton Solis conceded defeat to Laura Chinchilla, who will become Costa Rica's first female president. With approximately 40% of the vote counted, Chinchilla was consistently surpassing the 40% threshold for victory in the first round, leading Solis by 47% to 24%, with third-placed candidate Otto Guevara trailing at 21.5%.[4]
Summary of the 7 February 2010 Costa Rican presidential election results
Candidates – Parties |
Votes |
% |
Laura Chinchilla – National Liberation Party |
863,803 |
46.78 |
Ottón Solís – Citizens' Action Party |
464,454 |
25.15 |
Otto Guevara – Libertarian Movement Party |
384,540 |
20.83 |
Luis Fishman – Social Christian Unity Party |
71,330 |
3.86 |
Óscar López – Access without Exclusion |
35,215 |
1.91 |
Mayra González – Costa Rican Renovation Party |
13,376 |
0.72 |
Eugenio Trejos – Broad Front |
6,822 |
0.37 |
Rolando Araya – Patriotic Alliance Party* |
3,795 |
0.21 |
Walter Muñoz – National Integration Party* |
3,198 |
0.17 |
Total (turnout 69.14%) |
1,846,533 |
100.00 |
* Candidacy withdrawn in favour of Ottón Solís on 15 January 2010. Source: TSE |
Parliamentary election results
Summary of the 7 February 2010 Costa Rican parliamentary election results
Parties |
Votes |
% |
Seats |
National Liberation Party (Partido Liberación Nacional) |
708,043 |
37.16 |
24 |
Citizens' Action Party (Partido Acción Ciudadana) |
334,636 |
17.68 |
11 |
Libertarian Movement Party (Partido Movimiento Libertario) |
275,518 |
14.48 |
9 |
Access without Exclusion (Accesibilidad sin Exclusión) |
171,858 |
9.17 |
4 |
Social Christian Unity Party (Partido de Unidad Socialcristiana) |
155,047 |
8.05 |
6 |
Costa Rican Renovation Party (Partido Renovación Costariccense) |
73,150 |
3.79 |
1 |
Broad Front (Frente Amplio) |
68.987 |
3.66 |
1 |
National Restoration (Restauración Nacional) |
29.530 |
1.62 |
1 |
Patriotic Alliance Party (Partido Alianza Patriótica) |
28.349 |
1.49 |
— |
National Integration Party (Partido Integración Nacional) |
14.643 |
0.83 |
— |
Cartaginese Agricultural Union (Unión Agrícola Cartaginés) |
11,862 |
0.58 |
— |
Heredian Restoration (Restauración Herediana) |
7,953 |
0.43 |
— |
Alajuelan Restoration (Restauración Alajuelense) |
7,298 |
0.39 |
— |
Cartaginese Transparency (Transparencia Cartaginés) |
4,590 |
0.23 |
— |
Ecologist Green (Verde Ecologista) |
2,901 |
0.15 |
— |
Elderly Alliance Party (Partido Alianza Mayor) |
2,724 |
0.15 |
— |
Alajuelan Familiar Force (Fuerza Familiar Alajuelense) |
1,609 |
0.08 |
— |
Workers' and Farmers' Movement (Movimiento de Trabajadores y Campesinos) |
1,127 |
0.06 |
— |
Total (turnout 69.08%) |
1,738,611 |
100.00 |
57 |
Source: TSE |
References
Bruce M. Wilson and Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cordero: "The general election in Costa Rica, February 2010". In Electoral Studies, Volume 30, Issue 1, March 2011, pages 231-234.