Citizen Action Party (PAC) presidential hopeful Ottón Solís was the first presidential candidate to cast his vote Sunday morning at 7:10 a.m. in Pérez Zeledón, south of San José. Solís said he expects to garner 46 percent of Sunday's votes, despite the fact that analysts predicted he will not reach the 40 percent needed to win a first-round victory.

“What we have seen throughout this country are very enthusiastic people,” Solís said in an interview with television's Channel 6. “Today, we have seen a slew of cars driving with our party's flags.”

By noon on Sunday, PAC headquarters in the eastern San José neighborhood of San Pedro had distributed almost all of its party propaganda. Campaign volunteers distributed more than 70,000 shirts and nearly 20,000 flags – bearing the party's yellow and red – between Saturday and Sunday.

Solís, 55, who surprised the media by nearly upsetting Oscar Arias in the last elections in 2006, dismissed some of the formal polls that show him trailing again this time around. He claimed that he has conducted surveys “close to the people” in cafés, on buses, shopping lines and cantinas.

For Solís, that's part of what the PAC is all about.

Stay tuned for coverage of other leading candidates on the election trail.