# 1990 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 4 February 1990. Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 81.8%.
Unlike previous elections, Calderon's nomination was not undisputed. Despite expressing that he would not run again for President after the results of the previous race, he was eventually convinced by his followers. Yet, young former minister and business man Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría from the liberal faction inside PUSC choose to face Calderón at the primaries. Former deputy José Hine from PUSC's left wing also run with testimonial results.
Despite the fact that Rodríguez clearly had no chance against Calderón, his candidacy was considered a smart move, as he would start to be in the spotlight and helping his way in future nominations. As expected, Calderón won the primary election with 75% of the votes. On the other sidewalk former vice president Carlos Manuel Castillo won over young minister Rolando Araya Monge (nephew of ex-president Luis Alberto Monge) in PLN's primaries after a very hostile and traumatic campaign, in which Castillo even accused Araya of links with Narcotraffic, something that weakened PLN. Minor parties proliferated in this election, with up to 12 different parties taking part, of which only left-wing coalition United People having some relevance with sociologist Victor Daniel Camacho as nominee earning 3% of the votes.

## Results
### President

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier | Social Christian Unity Party | 694,589 | 51.49 |
| | Carlos Manuel Castillo Morales [es] | National Liberation Party | 636,701 | 47.20 |
| | Víctor Daniel Camacho Monge [es] | United People | 9,217 | 0.68 |
| | Fernando Ramírez Muñoz | Christian National Alliance Party [es] | 4,209 | 0.31 |
| | Isaac Felipe Azofeifa | Party of Progress | 2,547 | 0.19 |
| | Edwin Badilla Agüero | Militant Workers Revolutionary Party | 1,005 | 0.07 |
| | Rodrigo Alberto Cordero | Independent Party [es] | 746 | 0.06 |
| Total | Total | Total | 1,349,014 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,349,014 | 97.45 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 29,919 | 2.16 |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 5,393 | 0.39 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,384,326 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 1,692,050 | 81.81 |
| Source: Election Resources |||||

#### By province

| Province | Calderón % | Castillo % | Camacho % | Ramírez % | Azofeifa% | Badilla % | Cordero % |
| San José | 49.39 | 49.25 | 0.75 | 0.28 | 0.22 | 0.06 | 0.05 |
| Alajuela | 51.41 | 47.59 | 0.43 | 0.32 | 0.15 | 0.06 | 0.05 |
| Cartago | 50.37 | 48.57 | 0.53 | 0.20 | 0.19 | 0.08 | 0.06 |
| Heredia | 50.76 | 47.79 | 0.73 | 0.36 | 0.25 | 0.05 | 0.05 |
| Guanacaste | 52.72 | 46.39 | 0.44 | 0.24 | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0.05 |
| Puntarenas | 56.21 | 42.24 | 0.82 | 0.40 | 0.15 | 0.11 | 0.07 |
| Limón | 60.82 | 37.07 | 1.06 | 0.58 | 0.16 | 0.21 | 0.11 |
| Total | 51.51 | 47.20 | 0.66 | 0.31 | 0.19 | 0.07 | 0.06 |

### Parliament

| | Social Christian Unity Party | 617,478 | 46.21 | 29 | +4 |
| | National Liberation Party | 559,632 | 41.88 | 25 | –4 |
| | United People | 44,161 | 3.31 | 1 | 0 |
| | General Union Party [es] | 32,307 | 2.42 | 1 | +1 |
| | Christian National Alliance Party [es] | 22,149 | 1.66 | 0 | 0 |
| | Cartago Agrarian Union Party | 14,190 | 1.06 | 1 | 0 |
| | National Independent Party | 10,635 | 0.80 | 0 | New |
| | Party of Progress | 7,733 | 0.58 | 0 | New |
| | Alajuelense Solidarity Party | 7,330 | 0.55 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independent Party [es] | 5,564 | 0.42 | 0 | 0 |
| | Authentic Limonense Party | 4,901 | 0.37 | 0 | 0 |
| | Agrarian Labour Action Party | 4,756 | 0.36 | 0 | New |
| | National Agrarian Party [es] | 4,594 | 0.34 | 0 | New |
| | Militant Workers Revolutionary Party | 742 | 0.06 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 1,336,172 | 100.00 | 57 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,336,172 | 96.55 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 32,723 | 2.36 | | |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | 15,061 | 1.09 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 1,383,956 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 1,692,050 | 81.79 | | |
| Source: Election Resources ||||||

#### By province

| Province | PUSC | PUSC | PLN | PLN | PU | PU | PUGEN | PUGEN | ANC | ANC | PNI | PNI | PdP | PdP | Others | Others |
| Province | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S |
| San José | 44.41 | 10 | 43.08 | 9 | 4.50 | 1 | 3.77 | 1 | 1.86 | 0 | 0.91 | 0 | 0.70 | 0 | 0.84 | 0 |
| Alajuela | 46.90 | 5 | 43.47 | 5 | 1.43 | 0 | 0.55 | 0 | 1.41 | 0 | 0.46 | 0 | 0.39 | 0 | 5.39 | 0 |
| Cartago | 43.22 | 3 | 40.71 | 2 | 2.71 | 0 | 1.58 | 0 | 0.95 | 0 | 0.85 | 0 | 0.54 | 0 | 9.44 | 1 |
| Heredia | 46.87 | 3 | 42.91 | 2 | 4.38 | 0 | 1.84 | 0 | 1.75 | 0 | 0.80 | 0 | 1.16 | 0 | 0.29 | 0 |
| Guanacaste | 50.52 | 3 | 46.12 | 2 | 1.00 | 0 | 0.57 | 0 | 0.97 | 0 | 0.61 | 0 | 0.10 | 0 | 0.11 | 0 |
| Puntarenas | 49.87 | 3 | 38.30 | 3 | 2.96 | 0 | 4.60 | 0 | 2.30 | 0 | 1.24 | 0 | 0.33 | 0 | 0.39 | 0 |
| Limón | 50.14 | 2 | 29.44 | 2 | 4.11 | 0 | 0.62 | 0 | 2.18 | 0 | 0.51 | 0 | 0.53 | 0 | 12.47 | 0 |
| Total | 46.21 | 29 | 41.88 | 25 | 3.31 | 1 | 2.42 | 1 | 1.66 | 0 | 0.80 | 0 | 0.58 | 0 | 3.14 | 1 |

### Local governments

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Alderpeople | +/– | Municipal syndics | +/– |
| | Social Christian Unity Party | 623,021 | 46.70 | 274 | +42 | 265 | +151 |
| | National Liberation Party | 569,974 | 42.72 | 232 | –28 | 161 | –145 |
| | United People | 44,765 | 3.36 | 6 | +3 | 0 | 0 |
| | General Union Party [es] | 28,243 | 2.12 | 4 | +2 | 0 | 0 |
| | Christian National Alliance Party [es] | 17,411 | 1.30 | 2 | +2 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Independent Party | 12,836 | 0.96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Party of Progress | 7,815 | 0.59 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| | Agrarian Labour Action Party | 5,444 | 0.41 | 3 | New | 0 | New |
| | Alajuelense Solidarity Party | 5,298 | 0.40 | 0 | –1 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Agrarian Party [es] | 5,017 | 0.38 | 2 | New | 0 | New |
| | Independent Party [es] | 4,492 | 0.34 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 0 |
| | Authentic Limonense Party | 3,744 | 0.28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Union Party | 2,221 | 0.17 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| | New Alajuelita Party | 2,012 | 0.15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Humanist Party | 1,929 | 0.14 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 1,334,222 | 100.00 | 526 | +22 | 426 | +6 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,334,222 | 96.42 | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 49,520 | 3.58 | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 1,383,742 | 100.00 | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 1,691,689 | 81.80 | | | | |
| Source: TSE ||||||||