Costa Rica's presidential election was surprisingly close early yesterday as a staunch critic of the country's free-trade pact with the US pulled nearly even with the candidate largely expected to win, Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias.
Arias was facing a surprisingly strong challenge from Otton Solis of the Citizens' Action Party. Solis contends the Central American Free Trade Agreement would hurt Costa Rican farmers and should be renegotiated.
Arias, of the center-right National Liberation Party, had 40.7 percent support compared to 40 percent for Solis, with 75 percent of the votes counted.
Pre-election polls predicted that Solis would receive less than a quarter of the vote.
The winner will need at least 40 percent of the votes to win outright and avoid a second round of voting in April.
Under Costa Rican law, President Abel Pacheco of the Social Christian Unity Party cannot seek immediate re-election. But the Constitutional Court ruled in 2003 that former presidents could run again after leaving office and sitting out at least one four-year term -- allowing Arias to run.
Analysts said the surprising results could be because of the large number of undecided voters. A poll published last week showed 20 percent of voters had not made up their minds three days before the election.
"The polls never told the truth," Solis told reporters. "We said it many times."
Solis asked his supporters, who were gathering at his party's headquarters, to stay calm and wait for complete results.
Twelve other candidates were also vying for the presidency in an election that officials said had a 66 percent turnout -- the lowest in Costa Rican history.
Arias' supporters who had gathered at a hotel in the capital, San Jose, stopped dancing to salsa music after screens showed their candidate was closely followed by Solis. Arias had yet to address his supporters.
Arias won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for working to end Central America's civil wars while serving as president from 1986-1990.
The scion of a wealthy coffee farming family, Arias has pushed for Costa Rica to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the US, arguing it would help revitalize the country's stagnant economy.
Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic have already agreed to join the pact. Costa Rica is the only country that hasn't signed on, a topic that dominated the election campaign.
Solis, a 51-year-old economist, says the free-trade pact should be renegotiated because it would exacerbate poverty and drive under small-scale farmers.
He also proposes subsidies for farmers and small businesses.
Solis lost the presidential election four years ago and served as minister of planning during Arias' first administration.
After splitting from the National Liberation Party he created Citizens' Action in 2001, a party that he says "puts people before foreign corporations."
He has the support of some leftists, but Solis stops short of declaring an ideological position and instead says his party is an oppositional force to the two parties that have ruled Costa Rica for almost 50 years.
Costa Ricans traditionally have treated presidential elections as a national holiday, and the country has had Central America's highest voter turnout.
In past electoral campaigns it was common to see people wearing party colors and driving in caravans waving flags the night before the election.
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