1902 Costa Rican general election

General elections were held in Costa Rica on 16 February 1902.^[1] They occurred under growing political tensions.^[2] The authoritarian government of Rafael Yglesias was in direct confrontation with the opposition and had re-elected himself as single-candidate in the previous election by a questionable constitutional reform.^[2] The liberal Republican Party represented the most staunch opposition and the country was on the edge of civil war. However, Yglesias managed to negotiate with the moderate branch of the Republicans for a peaceful power exchange.

1902 Costa Rican general election

← 1897 16 February 1902 1906 →

Presidential election

Nominee Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra Máximo Fernández Alvarado Party PUN Republican Electoral vote 610 164 Percentage 78.81% 21.19%

President before election Rafael Yglesias Castro Civil Elected President Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra PUN

This new election was called with two candidates: Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra from the newly formed National Union Party and Máximo Fernández Alvarado under the banner of the "Republican Club".^[2] Both liberals. Esquivel won by a large margin.

Results

In the first round, Yglesias did not run, but some electors voted for him rather than for Esquivel.

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra	National Union Party	549	71.30	610	78.81
	Máximo Fernández Alvarado	Republican Party	134	17.40	164	21.19
	Rafael Yglesias Castro	Civil Party	87	11.30
Total			770	100.00	774	100.00
Source: TSE, Salazar[3]

First round by province

Province	Esquivel	Fernández	Yglesias1
San José Province	204	30	-
Alajuela	132	63	-
Cartago Province	90	12	15
Heredia	60	29	-
Guanacaste	3	-	72
Puntarenas	33	-	-
Limón	27	-	-
Total	549	134	87
Source: Salazar[3]

Second round by province

Province	Esquivel	Fernández
San José Province	199	42
Alajuela	122	70
Cartago Province	96	12
Heredia	56	40
Guanacaste	69	-
Puntarenas	39	-
Limón	29	-
Total	610	164
Source: TSE

References

1. "Historia de las elecciones presidenciales 1824–2014" (PDF). Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica. 2017.
2. Molina, Iván (2001). "Elecciones y democracia en Costa Rica, 1885-1913" (PDF). European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. 70: 41–57. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
3. Salazar, O. (2003) El apogeo de la República Liberal en Costa Rica, 1870-1914, p 207 ISBN 9977-67-131-1