REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES DECLASSIFIED Authority Statele fer lahz ex NARS Cate 24981 steps he had taken to remedy injustices committed by minor Government officials. Apparently the efforts of the President were at least partially successful, for it will be remembered that on the Friday before elections the DIARIO DE COSTA RICA, which had previously been featuring stories concerning the electoral frauds which were about to take place, changed its tone and praised many of the actions which the President had taken. It is also possible that the events of February in which one man was killed and several injured 17, had a sobering effect upon the leaders of the various political parties. Be that as it may, election day itself passed almost entirely without incident.
While the President gave every indication of attempting to effect honest elections it was perfectly obvious that other leaders of the Government party, particularly the faction following Francisco CALDERON Guardia, were determined that sufficient pressure should be applied to ensure the Government maintaining its control of Congress. For this reason a certain amount of chicanery took place, and a reliable in.
formant has told the Embassy that the Government bought some four thousand votes in the province of San José. Moreover, the results of the voting in the province of Guanacaste, where the Government made a clean sweep. make it evident that the vote in that province, traditionally the seat of widespread fraud, was not free from Government manipulation. Following the announcement of the results of the election the DIARIO DE COSTA RICA has proclaimed that the opposition feels that the election was unfairly conducted, and that the results of many voting booths will be contested before the Gran Consejo Electoral (Grand Electoral Council. It has also been announced that opposition leaders are preparing documented charges concerning the elections to be turned over to the committee of opposition leaders which was established for passing on the validity of the elections, to decide whether or not the elected opposition candidates should take their seats in the Congress Despite these public protestations, however, there can be no question but that the recent elections were in all respects fairer than those held in 1944, and in point of fact the writer has been told by several members of the opposition that the opposition actually gained more seats than they had anticipated. For this reason it seems not unlikely that once the proper public gestures have been made the opposition These incidents were described in the Embassy despatoh No. 1572 of February 6, 1946, Subject: Incidents of Violence in the Present Political Campaign.
2) The formation of this committee was described in the Embassy despatch No. 1474 of January 14, 1946, Subject: Nomination of Candidates for February Congressional Elections, and General Political Activity