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 SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) - A Nobel Peace Prize winner who favors a contentious free trade agreement with the U.S. was declared the country's president-elect on Tuesday — more than a month after the vote that gave him a razor-thin victory over his closest rival.
Oscar Arias, who also served as president from 1986 to 1990, defeated his nearest rival in the race by little more than 18,000 votes of the 1.6 million ballots cast, winning 664,551 votes to 646,382 for Otton Solis.
The final official vote tally was delayed both by challenges from Solis' campaign and the closeness of the race, which prompted election officials to recount all of the votes by hand before declaring a winner.
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