“Arabes y Americanos” Film Festival
Features “Tiro libre” (Chile), Feb. 8, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, Av. 13, Ca. 31, 2257-2919, www.ccecr.org.

Chunches de Mar
Collective art show, works made from beach waste, opening Feb. 8, 7 p.m., through Feb. 28, National Gallery, Children's Museum.

Mundoloco Concerts
Features Moonlight and Nonpalidece, rock, Feb. 8, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 2253-8933, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Costa Rica elected Laura Chinchilla to be the country's first woman president Sunday in a festive election day that proved to be a major victory for the incumbent party of President Oscar Arias, of the centrist National Liberation Party (PLN).

Chinchilla, 50, who had stepped down as Arias' vice president last year to campaign for president, garnered nearly 47 percent of the vote, with 70 percent of the votes counted by 11 p.m. The result confounded most analysts' expectations and surpassed Chinchilla's ranking in the polls, which sank to 41.9 percent in a Unimer survey published last week in the daily La Nación.

Ottón Solís, candidate of the center-left Citizen Action Party (PAC), earned just below 25 percent of the vote as of 11 p.m., while the right-wing Libertarian Movement's (ML) Otto Guevara garnered 21 percent.

After campaigning under the slogan “Laura: Firme y Honesta,” Chinchilla won all seven provinces, which is the first time in a quarter century this has happened.

“Wives and working women continue overcoming barriers to make a greater Costa Rica,” Chinchilla said in her acceptance speech, as the poll results continued to come out. “All the women and also the men who have accompanied us have made it possible that a daughter of this country can today be president.”

Chinchilla's highest priority will be to guarantee the security and safety of Costa Ricans, she said, as well as to meet all of her campaign promises. She called on the PAC and the ML to join with her to solve the nation's problems.

The PLN, characterized by a blend of pro-business and social democratic policies, will also dominate the Legislative Assembly with as many as 24 – by Sunday night's unfinished vote count – of the legislature's 57 seats. The PAC won 10 seats and Libertarians won 10. The Social Christian Unity Party (Unidad) took six seats and, beyond all expectations, the Accessibility Without Exclusion Party earned four.

“I consider this a great moment for our country, it can bring us continuity,” Damaris Leiva, a 51-year-old teacher, said Sunday at Chinchilla's celebration party.

Another Chinchilla follower, Roger Quesada, 41, an event planner who worked on the campaign, said, “I am very excited that we'll be able to return to the presidency. I'm proud to be Costa Rican.”

Chrissie Long, Adam Williams and Mike McDonald contributed to this report.

Fifty-year-old Laura Chinchilla began the morning with optimism. Green and white flags were flying through the streets, polling stations were full of people wearing her name and the cameras were all pointed in her direction.

Political analysts had predicted everything from a runoff to a landslide, but the National Liberation Party candidate felt confident this election will deliver her the presidency.

“Our teams are working,” Chinchilla told reporters at a morning press conference, “and we are reporting activity at every polling station.

“But, still, we are taking advantage of every moment to tell Costa Rica, we need (their) vote.”

Chinchilla had spent the evening before finishing a few phone calls in her home in the southwest San José suburb of Santa Ana. She said her family opened a bottle of wine, ate some picadillo, a typical Tico dish, prepared by her hired help and retired early.

Election Day for Chinchilla began with morning Mass at 7 a.m. in San José's Metropolitan Cathedral, where she sat beside such opponents as the Libertarian Movement's Otto Guevara. She met with the press immediately after the service and then left to the southern San José district of Desamparados – to her childhood school – to cast her vote.

Stilt walkers, marching bands, whistle-blowing clowns and a street full of white-shirted campaign workers were there to greet her.

Seventy-four-year-old Margarita Fonseca was among them. Dancing to the music of horns and loud drums, she said, “This is beautiful. It's a party. There's no violence, no fights, just happiness. This is democracy.”

Asked why she was voting for Chinchilla, Fonseca said, “She's educated; she's intelligent and she doesn't offend anyone.”

Hours earlier, Chinchilla's parents cast their vote at Escuela República de Venezuela in Escazú, west of San José.

Her father, Rafael Angel Chinchilla, who served as comptroller for 15 years, said, “Today I am very proud of the daughter we have and I am proud that Costa Rica has the opportunity to elect a president with as much experience and preparation as (she has).”

Chinchilla, former vice president and public security minister, is favored to win Sunday's election.

Campaign over again: Ottón Solís, of the left-leaning Citizen Action Party (PAC), concedes defeat on Sunday after learning that the candidate of the incumbent party, Laura Chinchilla, had won more than 46 percent of the vote.

Ronald Reyes | Tico Times

For the third presidential election in a row, Ottón Solís bowed out with a concession speech, having garnered just a quarter of the total votes.

“We have reached a feat, in which our best intentions have motivated a force of thousands of people in this country,” said Solís, founder of the left-leaning Citizen Action Party (PAC). “We ran an honest campaign and not a multimillionaire campaign.

“We believe in the idea that Costa Rica's farmers are the ones who feed us; the idea that education should change and revolutionize this society and become a tool of social mobility towards the top; the idea that the environment should be protected. We have fought for these ideas and for an intense dialogue.”

Solís, 55, who nearly beat President Oscar Arias in the last election in 2006, delivered his concession speech to a crowd of more than 100 people outside his headquarters in San Pedro, east of San Jose. Observers waved red and yellow flags and interrupted Solis' speech with shouts of “Yes we can” and “this country is not for sale.”

Solís walked off the stage into the arms of his followers, most of whom gave him a warm applause. The majority were grateful for the work he had accomplished.

“We've always believed in him and we still do,” said 25-year-old Anna Alpizar. “We didn't win tonight, but we will move forward. Like Solís said, we must continue to create a healthy dialogue for Costa Rica. That's how our democracy works.”

Others, however, left frustrated with yet another failed campaign.

“Each time I believe less in what he says,” said Kattia Sánchez. I've always voted for him and we never get anywhere. Maybe its time for this party to change its leadership.”

With his wife's arm on his back, both surrounded by TV cameras and reporters, a calm, reflective Solis offered his hand to other PAC members.

“I don't know what I did wrong,” Solís said. “But I will be available for all those in my party. Now, we have to take care of our legislators and other members of the citizen action party that are in the various municipalities of Costa Rica.”

Previous Story
Solís confident about bigger surprise this time around

Every vote counts: Libertarian candidate Otto Guevara is hopeful as he heads to the polls flanked by followers on Sunday.

Pablo Franceschi | Tico Times

As the day gave way to night, the Libertarian Movement faithful remained optimistic at the campaign gathering in the ballroom of the Hotel San José Palacio in La Uruca. A band played cumbia music; the red-clad followers danced, waved flags and mingled as they awaited the appearance of Guevara or any indication of the election results.

Soon after 8 p.m., the first results were released, indicating that Laura Chinchilla had taken almost 49 percent of the vote. Minutes later Deborah Formal, Guevara's girlfriend emerged to speak to the crowd. Formal told the crowd that the preliminary numbers were not to be considered an indication of the final results.

“We've just received the results from Limón,” she said. “And the Libertarian Party won the majority over the Citizen Action Party and the National Liberation Party. It is not over yet! Thank you Limón! Thank you Limón.”

The crowd resumed dancing but, minutes later, a hush came over the crowd as further results from the Supreme Elections Tribunal were announced on the large screens that hung from the ballroom. When the party faithful learned Guevara had taken percent of the vote, a brief roar arose from the crowd, although it was more an outburst of pride, significantly more muted than a cry of victory.

Minutes later, Guevara emerged to concede defeat.

“The Libertarian Movement is a triumphant party,” said Guevara to his still boisterous crowd of followers. “We are a party that will continue to grow, that will continue to care for the people, that will continue to try to improve security, that will fight for lower taxes and that will fight for a better country!”

At the end of his speech, Guevara congratulated Chinchilla on her victory.

Previous Story
Guevara rails against crime as votes come in