Arias Declared President-Elect, Insists on Free Trade Deal
The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) de Costa Rica "officially" declared former president and Nobel peace prize winner, Oscar Arias, winner of the February 5 elections and president-elect.

"Oscar Arias Sánchez is declared the constitutionally elected president of the Republic, Laura Chinchilla Miranda as first vice-president and Kevin Casas Zamora as second vice-president", was the declaration by Oscar Fonseca, president of the TSE.

The magistrates confirmed the final count of 1.623.992 valid votes of the February 5 election, of which 664.551 (40,92%) went to Arias and 646.382 (39.80%) went to Ottón Solís, of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC).

The difference was a mere 18.169 votes, the closest in the history of Costa Rican presidential elections.

The president-elect vowed yesterday to through the Legislature the free trade deal with the United States, despite obtaining a legislative majority and winning the election with only a small margin of the popular vote.

Shortly after he was formally declared the president-elect, Arias told opponents of the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)  -the Tratado Libre de Comercio TLC) as it is known locally -  he would not back down in the face of promises of protests

Arias, was Costa Rica's president in from 1986 to 1990 and won the Nobel Peace Prize for designing a peace plan that helped end civil wars in Central America.

Now 65, Arias, had been expected to sweep back to power but instead won with only by a narrow margin, almost not making the required 40% that would have forced a second election in April.

Ottón Solís, of the Partico Acción Cuidadana (PAC), admitted defeat last week but it wasn't until yesterday that the official announcement by the TSE that Arias and the "Aristas" - as the followers of Arias are known - could publicly celebrate the victory.

Solis had promised to re-negotiate the trade pact if had been elected president. Solís ended up with 39.8 percent of the vote, a much stronger showing than polls had predicted.

Political experts see the election results as a time for negotiating, ending the monopoly of one party governing without opposition.

Costa Rica is the only country that has  yet to ratify CAFTA. The other Central American countries - Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua  - and the Dominican Republic have all ratified the agreement with the United States.

The president-elect, according to experts, will have a difficult time in passing the trade agreement in the Legislature as he is four seats short of a majority, however, no one doubts the his negotiating skills.

Arias will officially take office at noon on May 8 following an official ceremony that will see president Abel Pacheco hand over the keys to Casa Presidencial.