Municipal 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 7 February 2016, in order to elect the mayors of the 81

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, t ...

of the country plus a proportional number of aldermen ( regidores) in each of the canton's

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

s, a

syndic Syndic (Late Latin: '; Greek: ' – one who helps in a court of justice, an advocate, representative) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a universi ...

for every district and members of the District Councils and a total of 8

Intendants An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

for districts and islands located too far away from the administrative center. For the first time in history, election of aldermen was held at the same time as the other municipal offices. Until 2010 councilors were elected at the same time as the

President 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 ...

and

deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...

in the general elections but a reform in the Electoral Law made all municipal offices elected at the same time and in the middle of the presidential period. Also, because of this change in the legislation, the previous election was held for a one-time only 6 years period. Oppositional National Liberation Party earned most of the votes achieving majority in all offices including 50 mayors and 186 councilors, even though it suffer a noticeable decrease both in votes and offices obtained, including the loss of two provincial capitals; Limon city and San José city, both of them previously in hands of PLN's members that were expel from the party for ethical questionings and were nominated by local parties, among them former presidential nominee

Johnny Araya Johnny Francisco Araya Monge (born 29 April 1957) is a Costa Rican politician. He was the mayor of the country's capital San José from 1998 to 2001 and again since 2003. He was also the co-president of the United Cities and Local Government ...

Social Christian Unity Party The Social Christian Unity Party ( es, Partido Unidad Social Cristiana) is a centre-right political party in Costa Rica. PUSC considers itself a Christian-democratic party and, as such, is a member of the Christian Democrat Organization of Americ ...

was recorded as the real winner as it increase its number of mayors passing from 9 to 15. Ruling Citizens' Action Party was unable to take advantage of its position as government and only achieve one more mayor than previously. In several cantons the party went in alliance with local forces and the Broad Front. Two new parties succeed in having new mayors; New Generation Party was a particular surprise as the party was the fourth in number of mayors winning in 3 cantons even though the party does not have parliamentary representation and received very few votes in the presidential ballot. While former president

Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (born 14 March 1949) was President of Costa Rica from 1990 to 1994. He was the presidential candidate of the Social Christian Unity Party for the national elections held in February 2010, but resigned his candida ...

’s new

Social Christian Republican Party The Social Christian Republican Party is a Costa Rican political party founded in 2014 by former president Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier and his group of supporters as a splinter from the historical Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC). The part ...

won

Vazquez de Coronado Vázquez (also spelled Vásquez, Vasques), in non-Spanish-speaking countries often spelled as Vazquez or Vasquez, is an originally Galician surname, in use not only in Galicia but all over the Spanish-speaking world. Overview To a lesser extent ...

Leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

Broad Front took part in the elections mostly in alliance with PAC and local forces winning in Montes de Oca and Acosta in that way and in one,

Barva Barva is a Districts of Costa Rica, district of the Barva (canton), Barva canton, in the Heredia Province, Heredia province of Costa Rica. The city is known for having a nice mix of rural and metropolitan landscape. Toponymy The name comes from ...

, completely alone. Local parties 21st Century Curridabat and Escazu's Progressive Yoke also won in

Curridabat Curridabat is a district of the Curridabat canton, in the San José province of Costa Rica. Geography Curridabat has an area of km2 and an elevation of metres. It is situated on the eastern border of the San José capital city, north of ...

and Escazu respectively.

Results

Resultado elecciones de regidores de Costa Rica de 2016

References

{{Costa Rican elections 2016 elections in Central America 2016 in Costa Rica Local elections in Costa Rica

Results

See also

References