General elections were held in Costa Rica on 5 February 1978.Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p 155 Rodrigo Carazo Odio of the opposition Unity Coalition won the presidential election. His coalition also obtained the largest number of seats in the Legislative Assembly, but fell two seats short of a majority. Voter turnout was 81%.Nohlen, p 157

Carazo, a former congressman and former member of the National Liberation Party, widely regarded as the country’s dominant political force at the time, left the party in 1972 and founded his own political group, Democratic Renovation. A fragmented opposition in the 1974 election had facilitated a relatively easy victory for the PLN, which secured 43.4% of the vote. In response, leading figures of the non-Marxist opposition began negotiations to present a unified candidacy in subsequent elections.

Eventually, these negotiations proved successful, and the principal opposition parties to the right of the government reached an agreement to present a unified candidacy. A primary election was held to select the coalition’s nominee, in which Rodrigo Carazo Odio narrowly defeated the industrialist Miguel Barzuna.

Although some leaders withdrew from the coalition following the primary (most notably Jorge González Martén of the National Independent Party and former president Mario Echandi Jiménez) the majority of the opposition leadership remained united.

The Unity Coalition was subsequently formed through the alliance of four parties: Carazo’s Democratic Renovation; the led by former president José Joaquín Trejos Fernández; the Republican Party led by Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier, son of former president Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia; and the Christian Democratic Party headed by Jorge Arturo Monge, the smallest but the most ideologically cohesive group within the coalition.

The left also made a coalition; the three main far-left parties at the left of the PLN; the People's Vanguard Party, the Costa Rican Socialist Party and Revolutionary People's Movement made the United People coalition, nominating former PLN member and doctor Rodrigo Gutierrez. Although Gutiérrez was not considered a leading contender for the presidency, the coalition contributed to an increase in left-wing electoral support and enabled the parties to secure a more substantial representation in the Legislative Assembly.

For many historians, this election is considered the beginning of Costa Rica’s two-party system, which would dominate national politics for more than two decades, lasting until the 2002 general election.

Results President

By province Province Carazo % Monge % Gutiérrez % Villalobos % Villalobos % González % Coronado % Cordero% 52.1 42.4 2.9 1.4 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.1 50.6 45.7 1.6 1.2 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1 47.1 47.3 2.0 1.9 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.3 51.2 44.2 2.9 0.9 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 48.0 42.8 4.6 2.8 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.3 49.9 38.3 5.9 3.7 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.4 49.3 46.2 1.4 1.7 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 Total 50.5 43.8 2.7 1.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.2

Legislative Assembly

By province Province CU PLN PU PUN FPCR PUR PNI PI POST PD Others % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S 44.610 36.98 9.32 2.10 3.11 0.80 0.50 0.70 1.20 0.4 0 0.3 0 46.25 42.85 4.20 4.30 -- 1.00 0.80 0.70 0.50 0.4 0 1.2 0 36.72 39.23 5.60 3.50 -- 1.90 1.30 1.10 -- 0.6 0 10.1 1 44.72 40.52 9.50 2.20 -- 0.50 0.70 0.70 -- 0.2 0 1.0 0 39.73 38.33 8.91 4.30 3.00 1.20 1.00 0.90 -- 0.4 0 2.3 0 38.72 30.32 12.00 4.50 -- 2.10 3.20 0.90 -- 0.5 0 7.8 0 45.53 43.02 4.20 4.10 -- 1.30 0.70 0.60 -- 0.3 0 0.2 0 Total 43.427 38.925 7.73 3.10 1.61 1.00 0.80 0.70 0.40 0.40 2.00

Local governments

References