General elections were held in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

on 4 February 1962.Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p155

Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich Francisco José Orlich Bolmarcich (10 March 190729 October 1969) was the 34th President of Costa Rica from 1962 to 1966. He was an ethnic Croat, a descendant of Croatian settlers from the town Punat on the island of Krk, Croatia. His villa in P ...

of the National Liberation Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 80.9%.Nohlen, p156

Background

During

Mario Echandi is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

's presidency Rafael Angel Calderón, his family and supporters in exile, were allowed to return and a general amnesty was called for everyone involved in the still recent Civil War of 1948. Calderón was elected

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

in the 1958 election. But meanwhile in the past election the National Liberation Party was split due to the separation of the “ Rossist” faction in this election Calderon's candidacy unified PLN and other political allies into a strong anti-Calderonist ballot. Both former

presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Otilio Ulate Luis Rafael de la Trinidad Otilio Ulate Blanco (August 25, 1891 – October 10, 1973) served as President of Costa Rica from 1949 to 1953. His French heritage comes from his mother, Ermida Blanco. He never married but had two daughters, Olga Mar ...

from National Union and Calderón himself from

National Republican The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...

became candidates. PLN's candidate was, as in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, Francisco Orlich, one of the party's founder, commander of one of the fronts during the civil war and

Figueres Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...

’ close friend. A fourth small left-wing party named

Popular Democratic Action Popular Democratic Action ( es, Acción Democrática Popular) was a political party in Costa Rica, founded in 1962 by left-wing members of the National Liberation Party. Prominent founders were Enrique Obregón Valverde, Marcial Aguiluz Orellana an ...

led by socialist thinker Enrique Obregón also took part in the election nominating Obregon.

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

was illegal according to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

and

Marxist Parties Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

were not allowed, but Obregon's party was officially socialist so the prohibition was not endorsed. Even so, Obregón did have the support of the traditional leadership and militancy of the (outlawed)

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

Campaign

All parties promised

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

. Calderon's publicity was particular in saying “''Yesterday

social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

, today land reform''” taking advantage of the socialist reforms during his presidency. As the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...

was recent the

anti-Communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

speech was common. All main parties accused each other of having links with

; PLN because of its socialist ideology (

social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

) and Figueres alleged friendship with

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

and Calderón because of his previous alliance with the Communists in the 1940s. The

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

anti-Communist group

Free Costa Rica Movement The Free Costa Rica Movement (''Movimiento Costa Rica Libre'') was a far-right anti-Communist and ultra-Conservative political association in Costa Rica. The group was founded in 1961 as Nationalist Movement (''Movimiento Nacionalista''). Som ...

paid for a strong anti-Communist propaganda, especially against Popular Democratic Action.

Results

President

By province

Parliament

By province

Local governments

Ballot

File:Papeleta 1962.jpg

References

{{Costa Rican elections 1962 elections in Central America 1962 in Costa Rica Elections in Costa Rica