COSTA RICA: Battered by government scandals, Costa Rica slid further into uncertainty yesterday when a presidential election that could decide the future of a trade deal with Washington was gridlocked.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, a former president, was tied with Otton Solis, and an electoral official said it could take more than a week before a winner was declared.
With votes from 85 per cent of polling centres counted in Sunday's poll, social democrat Mr Arias was at 40.6 per cent.
Mr Solis, who once worked for Mr Arias as planning minister, had 40.2 per cent. The country's best-known son, Mr Arias (65) appealed to Costa Ricans angry at a series of corruption scandals.
But it was an unexpectedly strong performance by Mr Solis (51), a technocrat and former central bank official, who said it was too early for claims of victory.
An Arias victory would help US president George W Bush's free trade plans in the region. Mr Arias wants Costa Rica's Congress to drop its opposition to the trade accord between the US and Central America, known as CAFTA. Mr Solis backs the plan mostly but wants to renegotiate it. Costa Rica is the only signatory not to ratify the deal. - (Reuters)(Additional reporting by Manuela Badawy in New York)