Sawt Falasteen - Ex-leader ahead as Costa Ricans elect new president

Twelve hours of voting closed at 6 pm (midnight GMT) in what is frequently rated the region's "happiest" country, a tourist mecca and a leading green economy.

However, polls show unemployment, corruption and creeping living costs topping the concerns of 3.5 million eligible voters in the country of five million people.

Jose Maria Figueres, 67, of the center-left National Liberation Party (PLN), had roughly 27 percent of the vote with 63 percent of ballots counted, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.

To win in the first round, one candidate must take 40 percent of the vote -- otherwise the two leading contenders will face each other in an April 3 run-off.

The eventual winner will be expected to tackle a worsening economy where unemployment has been steadily rising for more than a decade and reached 14.4 percent in 2021.

The poverty rate stood at 23 percent last year while the public debt was 70 percent of GDP.

Costa Rica's problems have worsened with the coronavirus pandemic dealing a hard blow to its critical tourism sector.

On Sunday, Figueres, who led the country from 1994 to 1998, condemned the levels of poverty as well as housing shortages.

"We have never experienced these things in this magnitude," he said.

For Francisco Zeledon, the first voter in line at one polling station, "voting is the most important weapon we have to solve problems."

"We have to solve poverty and create jobs for people," the 35-year-old said.

Polls have showed about a third of voters are undecided, faced with a choice of 25 presidential candidates.

But one outcome looked likely: the ruling Citizens' Action Party (PAC) appeared set for a bruising defeat with anti-government sentiment sky-high.

- Record unpopularity -

"The ruling party is completely weakened and has no chance" after two successive terms in office, said political analyst Eugenia Aguirre.

"The presidential unpopularity figure of 72 percent is the highest since the number was first recorded in 2013," she added.

This means the country's traditional political heavyweights -- the PLN and the Social Christian Unity Party -- could return to the fore after decades of a near political duopoly only recently broken by the PAC.

With results trickling in around 0600 GMT, second place remained closely contested between the economist Rodrigo Chaves (16 percent) and conservative evangelical preacher Fabricio Alvarado Munoz (15 percent).

Munoz commands support from the evangelical community, which makes up about 20 percent of Costa Rica's population.

Meanwhile, center-right Lineth Saborio of the PUSC garnered 12 percent.

Presidents in Costa Rica cannot seek immediate re-election, leaving incumbent Carlos Alvarado Quesada out of the running.

- Problems 'worsened' -

Costa Rica is known for its eco-tourism and green policies, with its energy grid run entirely on renewable sources.

Unlike many of its volatile Central American neighbors, Costa Rica has no army, has had no armed conflicts since 1948 and no dictator since 1919.

But the worsening economic situation has hit confidence in the political class.

Voters under 40 have only known "periods in which not only problems have not been resolved, but they have worsened," university student Edgardo Soto, an undecided voter, told AFP.

Apathy and abstentionism are features of Costa Rican elections.

In 2018, 34 percent of voters stayed away, though participation is technically obligatory.

Eugenia Zamora, president of Costa Rica's electoral tribunal, said Sunday's vote kicked off with high turnout in the morning, and proceeded without incident.

"This is a country with a robust democracy... It offers lessons for other countries," added Isabel de Saint Malo, head of the Organization of American States observer mission.

Outgoing president Alvarado said the vote was an affirmation of Costa Rica's place among "the world's strongest democracies."

Costa Ricans also cast their vote Sunday for the 57-member Congress.

"I hope that whoever wins really thinks of the people," said 77-year-old Mayra Sanchez after voting in Moravia, "and not of themselves."

Q.Jaber--SF-PST