REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES. DECLASSIFIED Aphority State Letter lahz öy me, WARS Date 2498 lack of interest displayed by practically all political groups except the Administration and the Communists.
The election results constituted a victory for President Ricardo Jiménez and his administration, and is generally regarded as a vindication of the aged Executive. As a result, he will face the new Congress convening May Ist with a larger majority in the Congress than in the old Congress which adjourned sine die in December. In the new Congress, there will be absent several of the Opposition leaders whose oratorical outbursts against the President caused him frequent annoyance.
President Jiménez won fifteen out of the total of twenty one Congressmen who were elected, and his total strength in the new Congress will be approximately 30 out of 43, which is regarded as an ample margin for all Administration measures.
Had the election resulted in a defeat for the Administration, Costa Rica might have been thrown into a turmoil. and perhaps a repetition of the Castro Quesada debacle of two years ago. because President Ricardo Jiménez had de termined to retire from the Presidency in the event the voters manifested their disapproval of his policies. Rumors to this effect circulated by some people prior to the election and which had resulted in mach uneasiness, were confirmed by the President in a conversation with me on yesterday. Of his own accord, President Jiménez told me that: