Municipal elections were held in Costa Rica on 7 February 2016, in order to elect the mayors of the 81 cantons[2] of the country plus a proportional number of aldermen (regidores) in each of the canton's municipal councils, a syndic for every district and members of the District Councils and a total of 8 Intendants for districts and islands located too far away from the administrative center.
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81 mayors, 505 aldermen, 480 syndics, 1888 district councillors, 8 intendants, 32 municipal district councillors and their alternates[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 and deputies 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.[3]
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.[4] Social Christian Unity Party 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’s new Social Christian Republican Party won Vazquez de Coronado. Leftist 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, completely alone. Local parties 21st Century Curridabat and Escazu's Progressive Yoke also won in Curridabat and Escazu respectively.
Results edit
| Party | Mayors[5] | Syndics and district councilmen[5] | Aldermen[5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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National Liberation Party | 50 | 3530 | 375 |
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Social Christian Unity Party | 15 | 1150 | 206 |
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Citizens' Action Party | 6 | 1012 | 128 |
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New Generation Party | 3 | 142 | 68 |
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Social Christian Republican Party | 1 | 334 | 48 |
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Broad Front | 1 | 147 | 38 |
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Accessibility without Exclusion | 1 | 48 | 16 |
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San José Alliance | 1 | 62 | 8 |
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21st Century Curridabat | 1 | 28 | 6 |
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Limonese Authentic Party | 1 | 22 | 10 |
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Escazu's Progressive Yoke | 1 | 20 | 8 |
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Montes de Oca People Coalition (Citizens' Action Party-Broad Front-Patriotic Alliance-New Homeland Party-Humanist Party]]) |
1 | 18 | 4 |
 |
Libertarian Movement | 0 | 62 | 18 |
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Christian Democratic Alliance | 0 | 58 | 8 |
 |
National Integration Party | 0 | 38 | 10 |
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Costa Rican Renewal Party | 0 | 28 | 20 |
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New Greek Majority | 0 | 24 | 6 |
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Live Puntarenas | 0 | 22 | 6 |
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Palmares Alliance | 0 | 22 | 2 |
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Santo Domingo's Advance Movement | 0 | 20 | 2 |
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La Union's Cantonal Rescue | 0 | 14 | 4 |
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Cartago Green Party | 0 | 12 | 2 |
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Guarcian Union Party | 0 | 12 | 2 |
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We Are Tibas Coalition (Citizens' Action Party-Broad Front-Fuenteovejuna's Civic Party of Tibas) |
0 | 10 | 4 |
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Siquirrian Authentic Party | 0 | 12 | 4 |
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Authentic Famer Coronado Party | 0 | 10 | 4 |
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Party of the Sun | 0 | 10 | 2 |
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Costa Rican Ecological Community Party | 0 | 10 | 2 |
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La Union's Social Alliance | 0 | 10 | 2 |
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Let's Renew Alajuela Party | 0 | 8 | 4 |
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All for Flores | 0 | 6 | 2 |
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Ramonese League | 0 | 4 | 2 |
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Belen Alliance (Citizens' Action Party-Independent Belemite Party) |
0 | 4 | 2 |
 |
Montes de Oca Advance | 0 | 4 | 2 |
 |
Garabito People | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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United Desamparados | 0 | 4 | 0 |
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Ecological Garabito | 0 | 4 | 0 |
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Independent Parrita | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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Montes de Oro Autonomous Party | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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Cartago Renewal | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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United for Guatuso (Citizens' Action Party-Broad Front) |
0 | 2 | 0 |
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National Restoration Party | 0 | 0 | 6 |
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Recovering Values | 0 | 0 | 2 |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. "Elecciones municipales en cifras 2002-2016" (PDF). tse.go.cr. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ Nelson, Jana. "Costa Rica's Municipal Elections: What You Need to Know". Diplomatic Courier. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ Dyer, Zach (January 26, 2016). "Most Costa Ricans don't vote in municipal elections. Will this year be different?". The Tico Times. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ "Costa Rica Local Elections Are More Interesting Than You Think". Caribflame. February 7, 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ a b c "Declaratorias definitivas". Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica. Retrieved April 8, 2016.