[2] An economic recession, a teachers' strike due to a pensions' reform and some corruption scandals made President José María Figueres' government highly unpopular.

Thus, government endorsed candidate José Miguel Corrales tried to distance himself from Figueres as much as possible.

[3] On the contrary in PUSC, previous candidate Miguel Ángel Rodríguez was seen as the natural nominee for this election, and despite the fact that deputy Luis Fishman was rumored as a possible internal opponent, he finally declined and Rodríguez was nominated without the need of primaries, thus keeping the party united.

During Figueres' administration the so call Figueres-Calderón Pact was signed between the leaders of the two main parties (and sons of the two caudillos of the 1948 civil war); him and Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (Rodríguez political rival) to approve several mutually beneficial laws for both major parties, something that caused outrage among large segments of the population and started the downfall of the two-party system.

It was also the first time that liberal Libertarian Movement and Christian conservative[8] Costa Rican Renewal won seats (one each) in the Parliament both for their future presidential candidates Otto Guevara and Justo Orozco respectively.