Costa Rican Electoral Trends, 1953-1966

• Author: John D. Martz
• Published date: 01 December 1967
• Date: 01 December 1967
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296702000406
• publishedBy: Sage Publications, Inc.

888

COSTA

RICAN

ELECTORAL

TRENDS,

1953-1966

JOHN

D.

MARTZ

University

of

North

Carolina

N

SUNDAY,

MAY

8,

1966,

the

presidential

sash

of

Costa

Rica

was

placed

~

about

the

shoulders

of

jos6

Joaquin

Trejos

FernAndez.

Exchanging

abrazos

with

his

predecessor,

whose

own

party

had

strongly

opposed

Trejos’ candida-

cy,

the

new

president

joined

a

long

line

of

democratically

elected

Costa

Rican

chief

executives.

Trejos’

assumption

of

power

underlined

anew

the

fact

that

no

Costa

Ri-

can

administration

since

1944

has

been

able

to

succeed

itself

in

office.

Without

excep-

tion

both

the

anti-government

candidate

and

party

has

won.

This

is

but

one

of

many

points

of

interest

for

the

student

of

Latin

American

parties

and

elections.

It

is

par-

ticularly

significant

that

the

February

elections

constituted

that

country’s

fourth

con-

secutive

regularized

and

legitimate

national

vote

in

the

postwar

period.

Since

the

early

1950’s,

moreover,

basic

political

forces,

organizations,

and

to

some

degree

even

personalities

have

remained

largely

constant.’

Costa

Rica

therefore

provides

a

vir-

tually

unequaled

opportunity

to

examine

electoral

returns

over

a

period

of

years

in

search

of

significant

patterns

of

continuity

and

change.2

The

presence

of

a

single

modern

party

and

several

largely

personalistic

rival

organizations

also

lends

interest

to

this

case.

A

lack

of

sophistication

and

of

theoretical

conceptualization

in

Latin

American

stasiology

has

been

serious,

while

even

orthodox

descriptive

accounts

have

been

in-

frequent.’

The

present

treatment

will

direct

attention

to

a

geographic,

regional,

and

demographic

analysis

of

the

electorate.

It

should

go

without

saying

that

while

the-

orizing

is

of

crucial

importance,

the

collection

and

ordering

of

data

is

itself

far

from

inconsequential.

There

have

been

but

a

handful

of

studies

by

North

American

schol-

ars

which

have

examined

election

returns

themselves.4

In

this

discussion,

no

meth-

NOTE :

Appreciation

is

expressed

to

the

Faculty

Research

Council

of

the

University

of

North

Carolina,

which

provided

a

grant

enabling

the writer

to

return

to

Costa

Rica

to

conclude

this

research

in

early

1966.

A

debt

is

also

owed

to

many

political

leaders

who

kindly

shared

their

time

and

views.

A

particular

word

of

thanks

is

due

Mary

Jeanne

Reid

Martz,

a

doctoral

candidate

in

political

science

at

Duke

University,

who

spent

long

hours

copying

and

ordering

much

of

the

electoral

data

used

here.

1

Karl

M.

Schmitt

and

David

D.

Burks,

Evolution

or

Chaos;

Dynamics

of

Latin

American

Gov-

ernment

and

Politics

(New

York:

Praeger,

1963),

p.

214.

2

Uruguay

and

Chile

are

the

only

other

present

instances

in

Latin

America

where

a

series

of

regulated

elections

over

an

extended

period

of

time

may

be

studied.

3

Among

those

who

have

decried

the

inadequacy

of

the

literature,

see

Russell

H.

Fitzgibbon,

"The

Party

Potpourri

in

Latin

America,"

Western

Political

Quarterly,

10

(March

1957),

3—22;

Merle

Kling,

"The

State

of

Research

on

Latin

America:

Political

Science,"

in

Charles

Wagley

(ed.),

Social

Science

Research

on

Latin

America

(New

York:

Columbia

U.

Press,

1964) ;

and

John

D.

Martz,

"Dilemmas

in

the

Study

of

Latin

American

Political

Parties,"

Journal

of

Politics,

Vol.

26

(August

1964).

A

striking

illustration

lies

in

the

following.

The

first

full-length

study

of

a

Latin

American

political

party

was

published

in

1953

—

Harry

Kantor,

The

Ideology

and

Pro-

gram

of

the

Peruvian

Aprista

Movement

(Berkeley:

U.

of

California

Press,

1953)

—and

the

next

one

did

not

appear

for

thirteen

years — John

D.

Martz,

Acción

Democrática

;

Evolution

of

a

Modern

Political

Party

in

Venezuela

(Princeton:

Princeton

U.

Press,

1966).

4

Among

the

very

few

such

studies

are

the

monographs

by

Federico

G.

Gil

and

Charles

J.

Par-

rish,

The

Chilean

Presidential

Election

of

September

4,

1964

(Washington,

D.C.:

Insti-

tute

for

the

Comparative

Study

of

Political

Systems,

1965),

and

John

D.

Martz,

The

889

odological

innovations

will

be

proffered,

for

the

intention

is

rather

to

capitalize

upon

the

dimension

of

time

and

continuity

over

four

elections,

providing

a

close

look

at

the

electoral

support

of

the

parties.

If

there

were

similar

work

on

more

of

the

hemispher-

ic

nations,

the

vital

task

of

theorizing

could

be

carried

out

more

fruitfully

than

has

been

done

thus

far.

COSTA

RICAN

POLITICS,

1953-66

The

Evolving

Party

System

Contemporary

political

issues,

parties,

and

personalities

emerged

from

the

un-

characteristic

turmoil

that

culminated

in

virtual

civil

war.

Former

president

Rafael

Angel

Calder6n

Guardia

(1940-44),

one

of

the

first

social

reformist

leaders

to

emerge

nationally,5

was

supported

for

a

second

term6

by

the

outgoing

administration

in

1948.

Two

different

political

currents

opposed

his

re-election.

Conservative

ele-

ments

formed

largely

by

businessmen

and

large

landowners

feared

Calder6n’s

return

to

office,

and

nominated

the

editor of

Diario

de

Costa

Rica,

Otilio

Ulate.

Anticipat-

ing

an

extension

of

the

reforms

instituted

by

Calder6n

during

his

first

administra-

tion,7

the

ulatistas

advocated

fiscal

integrity,

administrative

honesty,

and

an

essential-

ly

laissez-faire

approach

to

economic

problems.

A

second

important

political

con-

figuration

was

composed

of

a

new

generation

of

progressive

reformers

led

by

jos6

Figueres.

These

men

shared

ulatista

concern

over

alleged

calderonista

bureaucratic

inclinations

toward

dishonesty

and

inefficiency

as

well

as

the

growing

influence

of

Costa

Rican

Communists

upon

Calder6n

himself.&dquo;

More

positively,

they

demanded

an

extensive

and

systematic

approach

to

socio-economic

reforms.

Such

were

the

out-

lines

of

the

major

political

actors

in

1948,

and

these

have

remained

fundamentally

the

same

down

to

the

present

day.

Otilio

Ulate

won

the

presidential

contest

of

1948,

and

a

blatant

attempt

by

the

calderonista-dominated

Asamblea

Legislativa

to

annul

the

elections

led

to

a

revolu-

tion

headed

by

Figueres.

After

several

weeks’

fighting

the

&dquo;officialist&dquo;

forces

col-

lapsed

and

Calder6n

fled

the

country.

Figueres

assumed

the

provisional

presidency

of

the

Junta

Fundadora

de

la

Segunda

República

and,

after

more

than

a

year

of

sweeping

reforms,9

turned

over

office

to

Otilio

Ulate.

While

Ulate

directed

a

fiscally

responsible,

economically

conservative

administration

for

four

years,

Jose

Figueres

began

to

construct

out

of

his

miniscule

Partido

Social

Dem6crata

(PSD)

what

Venezuela

Elections

of

December

1, 1963

(Washington,

D.C.:

Institute for

the

Compara-

tive

Study

of

Political

Systems,

1964).

Also

see

the

shorter

treatments

of

Kenneth

F.

Johnson,

"Political

Radicalism

in

Colombia:

Electoral

Dynamics

of

1962

and

1964,"

Journal

of

Inter-American

Studies,

Vol.

7

(January

1965),

and

Peter

G.

Snow,

"Parties

and

Politics

in

Argentina;

the

Elections

of

1962

and

1963,"

Midwest

Journal

of

Political

Science,

Vol.

9

(February

1965).

5

For

a

statement

of

his

views

at

the

time,

see

Rafael

Angel

Calderón

Guardia,

El

Gobernante

y

el

Hombre

Frente

al

Problema

Social

Costarricense

(San

José:

author,

1944).

6

At

that

time,

presidents

could

run

for

a

second

term

after

four

years

out

of

office.

This

was

later

amended

so

that

a

president

must

be

out

of

office

for

eight

years

(two

terms)

before

being

eligible

for

re-election.

7

Calderón’s

first

government

had

enacted

such

measures

as

the

introduction

of

social

security

and

the

passage

of

a

major

labor

code.

8

Details

of

Communist

participation

are

spelled

out

in

Robert

J.

Alexander,

Communist

in

Latin

America

(New

Brunswick:

Rutgers

U.

Press,

1957),

pp.

383-91.

9

The

most

dramatic

and

controversial

measures

were

the

imposition

of

a

10

per

cent

capital

levy

and

bank

nationalization.