# 1974 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 3 February 1974. Daniel Oduber Quirós of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 80%.
The Left was theoretically outlawed as the Constitution didn't allow the existence of Marxist parties, but the prohibition was not endorsed in practice by that time and even was lifted with a Constitutional reform for the next election.

## Campaign

The government was affected in its popularity by the “Vesco Case” a corruption case involving then president José Figueres and his dubious connections with international criminal Robert Vesco, which caused heat for ruling party's candidate Daniel Oduber. Rodrigo Carazo, a former member of PLN and Congressman run as an independent candidate. Carazo had problems with Figueres when they both face each other in a primary election previously. Carazo promised to expel Vesco if he won, he also received the endorsement of former president José Trejos.
Another heated issue was Communism in general, as the election was in the middle of the Cold War. Topics like the diplomatic relationships with the USSR (which candidate Jorge González Martén swear will end in his government). The Catholic Church made a public statement criticizing both Communism and savage Capitalism and calling for a third option. Both PLN (Social Democrats) and the Christian Democratic Party claim to be that option. The traditional Left represented by Manuel Mora’s Socialist Action Party defended itself arguing that a previous archbishop Victor Manuel Sanabria expressed that Costa Rican Catholics had no quarrel in being members of the Communist Party. The far-right Free Costa Rica Movement also made a very expensive campaign against Mora's party on the media at the time.
Another notorious candidate was Gerardo Wenceslao Villalobos, aka GW, a very eccentric candidate nominated by the Democratic Party. Villalobos did a lot of crazy stunts and unusual activities for a candidate, like boxing and wrestling matches or trying to jump in parachute.

## Results
### President

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Daniel Oduber Quirós | National Liberation Party | 294,609 | 43.44 |
| | Fernando Trejos Escalante [es] | National Unification Party | 206,149 | 30.40 |
| | Jorge González Martén [es] | National Independent Party | 73,788 | 10.88 |
| | Rodrigo Carazo Odio | Democratic Renewal Party [es] | 61,820 | 9.12 |
| | Gerardo Villalobos Garita | Democratic Party | 18,832 | 2.78 |
| | Manuel Mora Valverde | Socialist Action Party [es] | 16,081 | 2.37 |
| | Jorge Arturo Monge Zamora [es] | Christian Democratic Party [es] | 3,461 | 0.51 |
| | José Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli | Costa Rican Socialist Party [es] | 3,417 | 0.50 |
| Total | Total | Total | 678,157 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 678,157 | 96.97 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 16,160 | 2.31 |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 5,023 | 0.72 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 699,340 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 875,041 | 79.92 |
| Source: Election Resources |||||

#### By province

| Province | Oduber % | Trejos % | González % | Carazo % | Villalobos % | Mora % | Monge % | Aguilar % |
| San José | 42.7 | 29.4 | 9.0 | 12.2 | 3.8 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Alajuela | 45.6 | 28.4 | 12.5 | 9.8 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Cartago | 43.6 | 29.4 | 15.9 | 5.9 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Heredia | 42.9 | 29.9 | 11.0 | 9.5 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Puntarenas | 39.5 | 36.3 | 11.0 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 5.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Limón | 38.8 | 39.4 | 7.7 | 3.4 | 2.4 | 7.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Guanacaste | 49.6 | 30.0 | 11.5 | 4.9 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Total | 43.4 | 30.4 | 10.9 | 9.1 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 |

### Parliament

| | National Liberation Party | 271,867 | 40.88 | 27 | –5 |
| | National Unification Party | 164,323 | 24.71 | 16 | –6 |
| | National Independent Party | 66,222 | 9.96 | 6 | New |
| | Democratic Renewal Party [es] | 51,082 | 7.68 | 3 | New |
| | National Republican Party | 32,475 | 4.88 | 1 | New |
| | Socialist Action Party [es] | 29,310 | 4.41 | 2 | 0 |
| | Democratic Party | 14,161 | 2.13 | 1 | New |
| | Christian Democratic Party [es] | 13,688 | 2.06 | 0 | –1 |
| | Cartago Agrarian Union Party | 8,074 | 1.21 | 1 | +1 |
| | Costa Rican Socialist Party [es] | 6,032 | 0.91 | 0 | New |
| | Costa Rican Peoples' Front [es] | 4,448 | 0.67 | 0 | New |
| | Independent Party [es] | 3,282 | 0.49 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 664,964 | 100.00 | 57 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 664,964 | 95.13 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 21,111 | 3.02 | | |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | 12,967 | 1.85 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 699,042 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 875,041 | 79.89 | | |
| Source: Election Resources ||||||

#### By province

| Province | PLN | PLN | PUN | PUN | PNI | PNI | PRD | PRD | PRN | PRN | PASO | PASO | PD | PD | PDC | PDC | PUAC | PUAC | PSC | PSC | FPCR | FPCR | PI | PI |
| Province | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S |
| San José | 40.1 | 9 | 23.4 | 5 | 8.7 | 2 | 10.1 | 2 | 5.6 | 1 | 4.3 | 1 | 2.8 | 1 | 1.7 | 0 | - | - | 1.4 | 0 | 1.4 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Alajuela | 44.3 | 5 | 25.1 | 3 | 11.9 | 2 | 9.2 | 1 | 2.7 | 0 | 1.9 | 0 | 3.0 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | - | - | 0.8 | 0 | - | - | 0.3 | 0 |
| Cartago | 38.1 | 3 | 23.6 | 2 | 11.9 | 1 | 3.9 | 0 | 2.7 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 | 1.3 | 0 | 3.8 | 0 | 11.1 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | - | - | 0.7 | 0 |
| Heredia | 41.1 | 2 | 22.7 | 1 | 9.8 | 0 | 7.4 | 0 | 7.4 | 0 | 5.7 | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | 3.5 | 0 | - | - | 0.7 | 0 | - | - | 0.3 | 0 |
| Puntarenas | 38.3 | 3 | 29.8 | 2 | 10.6 | 1 | 4.0 | 0 | 5.7 | 0 | 7.3 | 1 | 1.1 | 0 | 1.4 | 0 | - | - | 0.5 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Limón | 36.9 | 2 | 32.6 | 1 | 7.1 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 | 5.0 | 0 | 13.9 | 0 | 0.9 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | 0 |
| Guanacaste | 46.0 | 3 | 23.9 | 2 | 10.4 | 1 | 5.1 | 0 | 5.8 | 0 | 3.2 | 0 | 0.4 | 0 | 4.4 | 0 | - | - | 0.3 | 0 | - | - | 0.3 | 0 |
| Total | 40.9 | 27 | 24.7 | 16 | 10.0 | 6 | 7.7 | 3 | 4.9 | 1 | 4.4 | 2 | 2.1 | 1 | 2.1 | 0 | 1.2 | 1 | 0.9 | 0 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 |

### Local governments

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Alderpeople | +/– | Municipal syndics | +/– |
| | National Liberation Party | 281,067 | 42.44 | 225 | +38 | 350 | +34 |
| | National Unification Party | 174,178 | 26.30 | 150 | +17 | 37 | –9 |
| | National Independent Party | 67,802 | 10.24 | 48 | New | 2 | New |
| | Democratic Renewal Party [es] | 57,036 | 8.61 | 24 | New | 0 | New |
| | National Republican Party | 30,551 | 4.61 | 12 | New | 1 | New |
| | Socialist Action Party [es] | 27,614 | 4.17 | 8 | +4 | 0 | 0 |
| | Christian Democratic Party [es] | 14,215 | 2.15 | 0 | –2 | 0 | 0 |
| | Costa Rican Socialist Party [es] | 4,720 | 0.71 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| | Democratic Party | 2,456 | 0.37 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| | Costa Rican Peoples' Front [es] | 1,588 | 0.24 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| | Independent Party [es] | 1,035 | 0.16 | 0 | New | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 662,262 | 100.00 | 467 | +138 | 390 | +27 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 662,262 | 94.72 | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 36,949 | 5.28 | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 699,211 | 100.00 | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 875,041 | 79.91 | | | | |
| Source: TSE ||||||||