SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rica’s ruling party presidential candidate had a commanding lead in early election returns Sunday night.
Laura Chinchilla appeared headed to become the Central American country’s first female president. With 25 percent of the votes counted, she had nearly 47 percent of the ballots.
The closest contender was the Citizens Action Party candidate Otton Solis — an anti-taxation Libertarian— with just over 23 percent.
Polls closed in Central America’s most politically and economically stable country after a peaceful election, and some people still lined up to cast their votes were turned away.
Chinchilla served as vice president under current President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize-winner and free-market enthusiast.
“All of this has been worth it. We are going to win, and in the first round,” said Chinchilla, who rose early Sunday to attend a traditional election-day Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral.
Sunday’s winner needs at least 40 percent of the vote to avoid an April run-off.
If victorious, Chinchilla has pledged to continue Arias’ moderate free-market policies that brought Costa Rica into the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and initiated trade relations with China after a 63-year association with Taiwan.
Critics of the government say Arias catered to big developers to boost the economy at the cost of the nation’s fragile ecosystems.
But most Costa Ricans appeared reluctant to shake up the status quo in a country with relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, a thriving ecotourism industry and near-universal literacy.
Chinchilla, a 50-year-old mother and a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage, appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face in politics and those reluctant to risk the unknown.
If Chinchilla wins, she would follow an increasingly common trend in many Latin American countries: Nicaragua, Panama, Chile and Argentina have all elected women as presidents.
