Costa Rica in election cliffhanger; Arias ties

By Chris Aspin

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) – Battered by government
scandals, Costa Rica slid further into uncertainty on Monday
when a presidential election that could decide the future of a
trade deal with Washington hung by a thread.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, a former president,
was locked in a tie with Otton Solis, whose campaign team
suggested it might dispute any loss.

With votes from 83 polling centers counted in Sunday’s
poll, social democrat Arias was at 40.6 percent. Solis, who
once worked for Arias as planning minister, had 40.2 percent.

Arias, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for efforts
to end civil wars in Central America, was cautious.

“I cannot claim victory yet,” he told journalists. “We are
just going to postpone our victory celebrations for 24 hours.”

Followers from both sides cheered and waved flags when
results came in showing their man advancing even by a fraction
of a point.

Costa Rica, long a haven of stability in a region torn by
civil conflict, poverty and crime, suffered a blow to its
self-image in 2004 when two former presidents were briefly
arrested on allegations of taking bribes from foreign
companies.

A third former leader is refusing to return from Europe to
face questioning on similar charges.

Arias, 65, had been widely tipped to win, with the only
doubt being whether he would reach the 40 percent needed to
avoid a runoff.

Buoyed by an unexpectedly good showing, his main rivals
hinted they would not accept defeat easily.

“Monday is going to be a long day,” Epsy Campbell, Solis’
running mate, told reporters. “Because after this process we
are going to check every one of the votes.”

An Arias victory would help U.S. President George W. Bush’s
free trade plans in the region. Arias wants Costa Rica’s
Congress to drop its opposition to the trade accord between the
United States and Central America, known as CAFTA.

Solis backs the plan mostly but wants to renegotiate it.
Costa Rica is the only signatory not to ratify the deal.

VOTERS DISILLUSIONED

Arias needed to do well in the election for Congress, also
on Sunday, to be assured of pushing the trade deal through. His
National Liberation Party looked like it would win the most
congressional seats but without an absolute majority.

Arias, the scion of a rich coffee family, ruled Costa Rica,
roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined, from
1986 to 1990 when the country stood out as a refuge of peace in
a region torn by conflict.

Leftists have won a string of recent elections in Latin
America but the left in Costa Rica is split into several
factions with virtually no chance of taking power.

Costa Rica, a major coffee producer, abolished its army
almost 60 years ago but it has been stunned by a series of
corruption scandals in recent years.

Former Presidents Rafael Angel Calderon and Miguel Angel
Rodriguez were both jailed briefly in 2004 on charges of taking
kickbacks from foreign companies.

“People are very disillusioned because in recent elections
we have not been able to elect a good president and because two
former presidents were corrupt,” said Lourdes Moras, 34, a
graphic designer who voted in the capital city.

Although he backs free trade, Arias criticized Washington
for neglecting Central America since the 1980s, when the United
States sent military aid to stop leftist rebel insurgencies.

“The U.S. government has become more egotistical since the
Cold War. Instead of rewarding us for putting down arms, they
punished us,” he told a Mexican radio station.

Often accused in Costa Rica of being arrogant, Arias
compares himself to former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

(Additional reporting by John McPhaul)