Costa Rica May Get First Female President

Costa Rican presidential candidate Laura Chinchilla of the ruling National Liberation Party speaks to the press after voting during general elections in San Jose on Feb. 7. Chinchilla, a former vice president, leads right-wing opposition candidate Otto Guevara and Otton Solis, from the center-left, according to survey polls. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images

Costa Rica may get its first female president, Laura Chinchilla, as votes are being counted. Chinchilla, 50, was the former vice president of Costa Rica under the previous administration before she started campaigning for the presidency.

Pre-election polls show that Chinchilla was in the lead over conservative candidate Otto Guevara, according to a Reuters report on Sunday. Chinchilla’s proposed policies as president would be a continuation of policies espoused by her mentor and former boss, President Oscar Arias.

She would promote the expansion of free trade and promoting foreign investment. Costa Rica is one of the more stable countries in Latin America, having held many decades of democratic elections.