President-elect Chinchilla wins landmark Costa Rican election
Costa Ricans elect first-ever female president after Laura Chinchilla's nearest rivals conceded defeat
Also In The News
|
Ten US church activists have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy after they were found taking 33 Haitian children out of the country. |  |
Monday, 08, Feb 2010 05:39
By Matthew Champion.
Costa Ricans have elected their first-ever female president after Laura Chinchilla's nearest rivals conceded defeat.
The country's current vice-president declared victory after building up an unassailable 47 per cent share of the vote, seven points ahead of the threshold to avoid a runoff.
"Thank you, Costa Rica," she said in her first public comments since poll results emerged.
"It's certainly a moment of happiness, but above all of humility... I won't betray that confidence."
Otton Solis from the Citizen Action party and Otto Guevara from the Libertarian Movement party earlier conceded defeat with 24 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
President-elect Chinchilla, of the ruling National Liberation party, had campaigned for election on a platform of maintaining incumbent president Oscar Arias's free-market policies.
She will take office in May, becoming Costa Rica's first-ever female president and Latin America's fifth.
Costa Rica, which abandoned its military completely in 1949 and avoided the region's cold war conflicts and has since invested heavily in sustainability and eco-tourism, is the most prosperous country in Latin America.