1889 Costa Rican general election

none Costa Rica Flag of Costa Rica (1848-1906).svg 1886 Costa Rican general election 1886 1894 Costa Rican general election 1894 3–5 November 1889 (popular vote)1 December 1889 (electoral college) yes Presidential election presidential 467 members of the Electoral College 234 José Rodríguez Zeledón.jpg José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón PCD 00308A 377 80.73% Ascención Esquivel.jpg Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra PLP BF1313 86 18.42% 1889 Costa Rican presidential election by province.svg 280px Estimated results by province President Carlos Durán Cartín (acting) Independent José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón PCD yes Legislative election 1888 1892 12 of the 23 seats in the Constitutional Congress yes PCD #00308A José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón 9 New PLP #BF1313 Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra 3 New General elections were held in Costa Rica in 1889 to elect the president and half of the Constitutional Congress.Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica Historia de las elecciones presidenciales 1824–2014 2017 https://www.tse.go.cr/pdf/ifed/historia_electoral.pdf Opposition candidate José Joaquín Rodríguez defeated the government-backed candidate Ascensión Esquivel by a wide margin, marking the first instance in which an incumbent-backed candidate was defeated at the polls. The election is also notable as the first in Costa Rican history in which organized political parties formally participated.González Daniel 2014 Los partidos políticos en Costa Rica: un acercamiento histórico http://www.red-redial.net/pt/referencia-bibliografica-74281.html dead Boletín de la Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios Históricos en Centroamérica 60 https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230512/http://www.red-redial.net/pt/referencia-bibliografica-74281.html 2018-12-20 2018-12-20 The date of 7 November is commemorated in Costa Rica as "Democracy Day" in recognition of the liberal government’s acceptance of the electoral victory of the conservative opposition. This outcome represented a significant departure from earlier political practices, as authoritarian governments had previously been the norm.Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones Celebración del 7 de noviembre: Día de la Democracia Costarricense http://www.tse.go.cr/dianacionaldelademocracia.htm 20 December 2018 Electoral system Elections at the time were conducted in two stages. In the first stage, eligible male citizens voted to select second-degree electors, who in turn elected the president from among the candidates. Voting by citizens in the first stage was public, while the electors cast their ballots by secret vote in the second stage. Eligibility requirements for electors generally included property ownership and literacy, resulting in an electorate drawn primarily from wealthy families and the middle class. The electors selected both the president and the deputies to the Constitutional Congress for four-year terms. They met in assemblies held in the capital city of each province, presided over by the provincial governor, who was appointed by the president. For the 1889 election, a total of 591 electors were to be chosen nationwide, although 124 ultimately did not participate in the second round of voting.Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica Historia de las elecciones presidenciales 1824–2014 2017 https://www.tse.go.cr/pdf/ifed/historia_electoral.pdf Background Following independence in 1821 and during the early First Republic, liberal factions of varying orientations dominated Costa Rican politics. Unlike in many other Latin American countries, where liberal and conservative groups frequently alternated in power through conflict, Costa Rica’s presidents—beginning with José María Castro Madriz—were almost all adherents of some form of liberalism, with only one exception. This prolonged period of liberal dominance, often referred to as the Liberal State, was sustained through alliances among the liberal intellectual elite, the coffee-growing bourgeoisie, and the military. Relations between liberal governments and the Catholic Church were generally cooperative until the presidency of Próspero Fernández Oreamuno, a Freemason and prominent liberal. His secularizing and anticlerical policies led to increased tensions with the Church. In response, the Church supported its own candidate for the presidency: the conservative-leaning lawyer José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón, running under the Constitutional Democratic Party, which had been founded on 19 June 1889. The governing liberal elites, meanwhile, openly backed Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra, Second Designate to the Presidency, who was also a Freemason and a member of the so-called Olympus Generation, an influential circle of liberal intellectuals. President Bernardo Soto Alfaro had previously allowed Esquivel to exercise presidential authority during the period known as the “Government of the 100 Days,” from May to August of that year. Campaign During the campaign, the Constitutional Democratic Party used the national flag as its electoral symbol, while the Liberal Progressive Party adopted a red flag, traditionally associated with liberal movements in Latin America.Molina Iván 2001 Elecciones y democracia en Costa Rica, 1885-1913 http://www.cedla.uva.nl/50_publications/pdf/revista/70RevistaEuropea/70_IvanMolina.pdf dead European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 70 41–57 https://web.archive.org/web/20190502173816/http://www.cedla.uva.nl/50_publications/pdf/revista/70RevistaEuropea/70_IvanMolina.pdf 2019-05-02 2018-12-20 Rodríguez was accused by opponents of seeking to establish a religious government, despite his public support for the separation of church and state.De la Cruz de Lemos Vladimir 2012 El largo camino hacia las libertades electorales. 7 de noviembre, Día de la Democracia Costarricense Derecho Electoral 12 Esquivel, in turn, was criticized for his affiliation with Freemasonry, his liberal political views, and his Nicaraguan origin. Rodríguez’s candidacy achieved decisive victories in the provinces of Heredia and Cartago, which were among the country’s more traditional and Catholic-leaning regions, as well as in Puntarenas. He also won by wide margins in San José and Alajuela, where Esquivel received approximately 27% of the vote. Esquivel’s relative strength in the latter has been attributed to its historically strong liberal tradition and the political influence of President Bernardo Soto. Esquivel secured a landslide victory in Guanacaste, a result commonly attributed to his long-standing ties to the province, where he spent part of his childhood and youth.Sáenz Carbonell Jorge Francisco El canciller Rodríguez: semblanza de don José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón Instituto Manuel María de Peralta 2011 1st San José 63 Spanish Rodríguez won the popular vote in the first round of voting, but Soto initially declared Esquivel the victor and organized a military parade in his support on 7 November. In response, the Catholic Church mobilized its supporters to demonstrate in defense of the electoral results. Amid concerns over the possibility of civil conflict, Soto withdrew from active governance without formally resigning. His successor, Carlos Durán Cartín, subsequently oversaw a peaceful transfer of power to Rodríguez. Although the exact popular vote totals are unknown, contemporary estimates suggest that Rodríguez received approximately 73.3% of the vote, while Esquivel obtained about 26.7%.Sáenz Carbonell Jorge Francisco El canciller Rodríguez: semblanza de don José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón 2011 1st 63 Results Electoral Collegesecond round José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón Constitutional Democratic Party #00308A 377 Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra Liberal Progressive Party #BF1313 86 Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno Independent 3 Carlos Durán Cartín Independent 1 0 591 TSE Second round results by province Province Rodríguez Esquivel Jiménez Durán San José Province 112 20 1 Alajuela 94 3600 Cartago Province 81000 Heredia 75000 Guanacaste0 4800 Puntarenas 15000 Limón00 30 Total 377 86 3 1Source: TSE Constitutional Congress File:Congreso Costa Rica 1889.svg Constitutional Democratic Party 9 New #00308A Liberal Progressive Party 3 New #BF1313 Ocontrillo, El Día References Category:Parliamentary elections in Costa Rica Costa General Category:Presidential elections in Costa Rica Category:October 1889 in North America Category:December 1889 in North America