REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES DECLASSIHED Authority Statele Her hr by me NARS Date 24981 5opposition will lessen its criticism and turn its attention from 1946 to 1948.
Out of the various events surrounding the recent elections has emerged another important fact, namely that President Picado has enormously increased his personal prestige, Prior to the elections the opinion was almost universal that Picado was no more than a prisoner of the Caldero Communists, and that as such he would be a ready tool for their presumed electoral machinations. However, the President reiterated insistence upon the freedom of elections, his obviously impartial decisions in the many complaints presented to him, and his calm and collected way of organizing the Government machinery to avoid violence have won him praise from all sides. As reported previously he has received hundreds of letters and telegrams congratulating him upon his personal handling of the situation, and even members of the opposition are now heard to.
say that Picado has acted honestly and fairly. Needless to say, however, this praise of the President is entirely personal and does not extend to the professional politicians within his Administration such as Francisco Calderón Guardia.
The most frequently heard comment concerning the results of the election is the one to the effeot that the Vanguardia Popular Party suffered a crushing defeat. When it became known that the Vanguardia Popular had elected but two congressmen it was rumored that Manuel Mora was furious at his lack of success, and was considering an immediate and open break with the Administration. There were also rumors to the effect that, on the one hand, the Government had double crossed the Vanguardia, and had counted out all its candidates save Mora and Cerdas and, on the other hand, to the effect that the election had been genuinely free and that the result therefore indicated the amazingly small proportions of the Vanguardia Popular Party. Mora himself, however, states that the results were a triumph for the Vanguardia Popular Party since his group was concerned more with maintaining the Administration majority in Congress than with electing its own deputies. The Embassy own conclusion is that the truth probably lies sonewhere between these two extremes. In the first place since the Vanguardia gained one congressman more than it has in the present Congress, and since their bloc now holds the potential balance of power in Congress, it seems a definite exaggeration to state that Mora suffered a crushing defeat. Comparison of the results of the election with the midterm elections of 1942 for the province of San José shows that in the earlier yuar the then Communist Party polled slightly over six thousand votes. In the recent leotion Mora and his party polled somewhat less than six thousand votes in San José, although it apo pears that the total electorate of the province was somewhat smaller this time. In 1942, however, the Communist Party was campaigning in active opposition to the Government whereas in last Sunday election it is to be presumed that Mora, in the Government did not actually aid him, was at least not the victim of fraud on the part of the Government. It would seem to the Embassy, therefore, that the Vanguardia has probably remained at about its 1942 level of voting strength, and this fact