# 2010 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 7 February 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.
The election was supervised by observers from several countries, as well as from the Organization of American States. The incumbent president, Óscar Arias, was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term. This was the last time as of 2019, that the National Liberation Party has gotten more than 30% of the vote, the last time to this date that they have won the presidency, and the last time it has won any province in what is known as the Central Valley (the four provinces in the interior of the country: San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago).

## Presidential candidates

Candidates included:
* Laura Chinchilla Miranda (ruling National Liberation Party, vice-president 2006–08)
* Ottón Solís (oppositional Citizens' Action Party, candidate in 2006)
* Otto Guevara (Movimiento Libertario, candidate in 2006)
* Luis Fishman (conservative Social Christian Unity Party, vice-president under Abel Pacheco)
Two weeks before the election, Patriotic Alliance and National Integration Party's candidates, Rolando Araya and Walter Muñoz, stopped their campaigns and endorsed Citizens' Action Party's candidate Otton Solís, in an effort to build a progressive alliance against Laura Chinchilla.

## Parliamentary elections

The swifting from a two-party system to a multi-party system was much more evident in this election
For the then three major parties; PLN, PAC and ML the voting for the presidential ballot was superior to the support in the legislative, as for example PLN presidential candidate Laura Chinchilla received 46% of the votes and PLN's legislative ballot only 37%. Similarly PAC's candidate Ottón Solís with 25% presidential against 17% legislative and Otto Guevara with 20% oppose to 14% legislative. Contrary to PUSC whose candidate Luis Fishman received 3% electoral support while his party received 8%.
This was at the time PAC's worst electoral result in its history having the smallest faction in the Parliament and ML's best result with to this date its biggest. PLN only lost one seat. Left-wing Broad Front maintained its only seat in the person of future presidential nominee José María Villalta Florez-Estrada and two Christian parties for the first time had deputies at the same time; Costa Rican Renewal Party and its provincial offshoot National Restoration.

## Opinion polls

* 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%
* 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%

## Results
### President

At 9:08 p.m. local time on election day, 7 February 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%.
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Laura Chinchilla | National Liberation Party | 896,516 | 46.91 |
| | Ottón Solís | Citizens' Action Party | 478,877 | 25.05 |
| | Otto Guevara | Libertarian Movement | 399,788 | 20.92 |
| | Luis Fishman Zonzinski | Social Christian Unity Party | 74,114 | 3.88 |
| | Óscar López | Accessibility without Exclusion | 36,104 | 1.89 |
| | Mayra González | Costa Rican Renewal Party | 13,945 | 0.73 |
| | Eugenio Trejos | Broad Front | 6,782 | 0.35 |
| | Rolando Araya Monge | Patriotic Alliance | 3,158 | 0.17 |
| | Walter Muñoz | National Integration Party | 2,049 | 0.11 |
| Total | Total | Total | 1,911,333 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,911,333 | 97.97 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 32,555 | 1.67 |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 6,959 | 0.36 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,950,847 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,822,491 | 69.12 |
| Source: Election Resources |||||

#### By province

| Province % | PLN % | PAC % | ML % | PUSC % | PASE % | PRC % | Other % |
| San José | 46.6 | 28.9 | 17.6 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Alajuela | 45.3 | 26.5 | 21.9 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Cartago | 49.7 | 23.5 | 19.4 | 4.2 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Heredia | 46.6 | 27.6 | 19.5 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Puntarenas | 48.9 | 17.3 | 26.7 | 4.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| Limón | 41.6 | 17.5 | 31.4 | 5.0 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 0.9 |
| Guanacaste | 51.4 | 15.9 | 23.3 | 6.1 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 |
| Total | 46.8 | 25.1 | 20.9 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.8 |

### Legislative Assembly

| | National Liberation Party | 708,043 | 37.27 | 24 | –1 |
| | Citizens' Action Party | 334,636 | 17.61 | 11 | –6 |
| | Libertarian Movement | 275,518 | 14.50 | 9 | +3 |
| | Accessibility without Exclusion | 171,858 | 9.05 | 4 | +3 |
| | Social Christian Unity Party | 155,047 | 8.16 | 6 | +1 |
| | Costa Rican Renewal Party | 73,150 | 3.85 | 1 | +1 |
| | Broad Front | 68,987 | 3.63 | 1 | 0 |
| | National Restoration Party | 29,530 | 1.55 | 1 | 0 |
| | Patriotic Alliance | 28,349 | 1.49 | 0 | New |
| | National Integration Party | 14,643 | 0.77 | 0 | 0 |
| | Cartago Agrarian Union Party | 11,862 | 0.62 | 0 | 0 |
| | Heredia Restoration Party | 7,953 | 0.42 | 0 | New |
| | Alajuela Restoration Party | 7,298 | 0.38 | 0 | New |
| | Cartaginese Transparency Party | 4,590 | 0.24 | 0 | New |
| | Green Ecologist Party | 2,901 | 0.15 | 0 | New |
| | Elderly Alliance Party | 2,724 | 0.14 | 0 | New |
| | Alajuelan Familiar Force Party | 1,609 | 0.08 | 0 | New |
| | Workers' and Farmers' Movement | 1,127 | 0.06 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 1,899,825 | 100.00 | 57 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,899,825 | 97.39 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 30,806 | 1.58 | | |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | 20,077 | 1.03 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 1,950,708 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,822,491 | 69.11 | | |
| Source: Election Resources ||||||

#### By province

| Province | PLN | PLN | PAC | PAC | ML | ML | PUSC | PUSC | PASE | PASE | PRC | PRC | FA | FA | PREN | PREN | AP | AP | Other | Other |
| Province | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S |
| San José | 35.5 | 7 | 19.0 | 4 | 12.3 | 2 | 7.4 | 2 | 11.1 | 2 | 3.0 | 1 | 4.7 | 1 | 4.3 | 1 | 1.1 | 0 | 1.6 | 0 |
| Alajuela | 38.2 | 5 | 19.9 | 2 | 16.5 | 2 | 6.5 | 1 | 8.5 | 1 | 6.5 | 0 | 1.3 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 1.9 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 |
| Cartago | 38.9 | 3 | 17.0 | 1 | 13.1 | 1 | 7.6 | 1 | 7.9 | 1 | 2.8 | 0 | 2.8 | 0 | - | 0 | 1.2 | 0 | 8.5 | 0 |
| Heredia | 37.0 | 2 | 19.1 | 2 | 13.9 | 1 | 7.3 | 0 | 8.7 | 0 | 2.9 | 0 | 4.8 | 0 | 4.0 | 0 | 1.9 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 |
| Puntarenas | 39.7 | 2 | 14.3 | 1 | 18.6 | 1 | 13.8 | 1 | 5.1 | 0 | 4.3 | 0 | 2.2 | 0 | - | 0 | 1.1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |
| Limón | 33.3 | 2 | 12.0 | 1 | 20.1 | 1 | 10.2 | 1 | 5.6 | 0 | 8.6 | 0 | 7.3 | 0 | - | 0 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.8 | 0 |
| Guanacaste | 43.1 | 3 | 11.6 | 0 | 13.5 | 1 | 11.0 | 0 | 10.0 | 0 | 5.1 | 0 | 2.2 | 0 | - | 0 | 3.1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
| Total | 37.3 | 24 | 17.6 | 11 | 14.5 | 9 | 8.2 | 6 | 9.0 | 4 | 3.9 | 1 | 3.6 | 1 | 2.4 | 1 | 1.5 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 |

### Municipal Councils

The elections of municipal councilors of Costa Rica in 2010 were an electoral process held in parallel with the presidential and legislative elections. In them the 495 tenure aldermen and the 495 alternates that conform the 81 Municipal Councils were chosen.
The Central Canton of San José, the most populous, named 13 aldermen. Desamparados and Alajuela named 11. Others less populated (Puntarenas, Limón, Pococí, Heredia, Cartago, La Unión, San Carlos, Goicoechea, Pérez Zeledón, etc.) named 9. Others even smaller (Tibás, Grecia, Vázquez de Coronado, Montes de Oca, Siquirres, Escazú, Turrialba, etc.) appointed 7 council members. Finally, the smallest (Turrubares, San Mateo, Santa Ana, Mora, Montes de Oro, Talamanca, etc.) named 5.
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| | National Liberation Party | 700,659 | 37.05 | 196 | –32 |
| | Citizens' Action Party | 331,167 | 17.51 | 100 | –39 |
| | Libertarian Movement | 255,411 | 13.51 | 76 | +40 |
| | Social Christian Unity Party | 174,462 | 9.22 | 55 | –4 |
| | Accessibility without Exclusion | 143,273 | 7.58 | 22 | New |
| | Costa Rican Renewal Party | 51,302 | 2.71 | 10 | +6 |
| | Broad Front | 45,399 | 2.40 | 1 | +1 |
| | Patriotic Alliance | 28,738 | 1.52 | 3 | New |
| | National Restoration Party | 24,690 | 1.31 | 1 | –1 |
| | 21st Century Curridabat | 5,643 | 0.30 | 4 | +2 |
| | Renew Alajuela Party | 13,403 | 0.71 | 1 | New |
| | National Integration Party | 10,121 | 0.54 | 0 | 0 |
| | Heredia Restoration Party | 8,797 | 0.47 | 0 | New |
| | Escazu's Progressive Yoke | 8,145 | 0.43 | 2 | 0 |
| | Green Ecologist Party | 5,319 | 0.28 | 0 | 0 |
| | Sancarlenean Alliance Coalition (FA–AP) | 4,895 | 0.26 | 1 | New |
| | Cartago Agrarian Union Party | 9,029 | 0.48 | 1 | –1 |
| | Ramonense League Coalition (FA–AP) | 4,662 | 0.25 | 1 | New |
| | Palmarenean Union Party | 4,158 | 0.22 | 2 | 0 |
| | Party of the Sun | 4,077 | 0.22 | 2 | 0 |
| | Fuenteovejuna Civic Party of Tibás | 3,655 | 0.19 | 1 | New |
| | Alajuela Restoration Party | 3,414 | 0.18 | 0 | New |
| | Santo Domingo Advancement Movement | 3,398 | 0.18 | 1 | New |
| | Goicoechea in Action Party | 3,348 | 0.18 | 1 | +1 |
| | United Barva Coalition (FA–PASE) | 3,017 | 0.16 | 1 | New |
| | Alajuelense Coalition (FA–AP) | 2,980 | 0.16 | 1 | New |
| | The Bridge and Paths of Mora | 2,962 | 0.16 | 1 | –1 |
| | Authentic Labourer of Coronado Party | 2,848 | 0.15 | 1 | 0 |
| | Ateniense Union Party | 2,602 | 0.14 | 1 | New |
| | Barbarenean Integration Party | 2,369 | 0.13 | 1 | New |
| | Elderly Alliance Party | 2,279 | 0.12 | 0 | New |
| | Unique Abangarean Party | 2,229 | 0.12 | 2 | New |
| | Cantonal Action Independent Siquirres Party | 2,116 | 0.11 | 1 | 0 |
| | United Montes de Oca Coalition (FA–PH) | 2,086 | 0.11 | 0 | New |
| | Social Active Organization | 2,025 | 0.11 | 1 | New |
| | Independent Belemite Party | 2,014 | 0.11 | 1 | 0 |
| | Live Buenos Aires Party | 1,791 | 0.09 | 1 | New |
| | Communal Pro-Curri Party | 1,718 | 0.09 | 0 | –1 |
| | United Heredia Coalition (FA–PH) | 1,403 | 0.07 | 0 | New |
| | Quepeña Action Party | 1,386 | 0.07 | 0 | –2 |
| | Autonomous Oromontan Party | 1,170 | 0.06 | 1 | 0 |
| | Workers' and Peasants' Movement | 1,120 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 |
| | Naranjenean Action Party | 1,047 | 0.06 | 0 | New |
| | Alfaro Ruiz Peoples' Coalition (FA–AP) | 1,023 | 0.05 | 1 | New |
| | Tarrazú First Party | 991 | 0.05 | 0 | New |
| | Barbarenean Coalition (FA–AP) | 831 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| | Ecological Garabito Party | 709 | 0.04 | 1 | 0 |
| | United Talamanca Party | 508 | 0.03 | 0 | New |
| | Aguirre Labour Organization Party | 456 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 |
| | Poasenean Patriotic Front Coalition (FA–AP) | 345 | 0.02 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 1,891,190 | 100.00 | 496 | –4 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,891,190 | 97.17 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 55,066 | 2.83 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 1,946,256 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,822,491 | 68.96 | | |
| Source: TSE ||||||