The Democratic Party was a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in Costa Rica. The first time the name was used was during the 1919 elections following the coup that overturned the two-years long dictatorship of Federico Tinoco and was used by Tinoco’s followers, losing the election. Later it endorsed the candidacy of

León Cortés Castro León Cortés Castro (December 8, 1882 – March 3, 1946) was a Costa Rican politician. He served as President of Costa Rica from 1936 to 1940. During his term he introduced new bank reforms, supported banana plantations in the South Pacific reg ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

, losing again. The party endorsed

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 Ma ...

as part of one unified opposition candidacy in 1948. That was claimed as successful but the denial of the results by the government caused that year's

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Following the civil war the party contested with wealthy industrialist Fernando Cervantes as their candidate against socialist (and former member of the party's left-wing)

José Figueres José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

of the newly founded National Liberation Party, resulting in a defeat for Cervantes. After that the party would disappear and many of its members (including Otto Cortés, León Cortés’ son) became members of National Liberation.

References

Liberal parties in Costa Rica Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in Costa Rica {{CostaRica-party-stub