Ruling party candidate Laura Chinchilla (C) gestures to her supporters as she celebrates her victory in San Jose, Costa Rica, Feb. 7, 2010. [Photo: Xinhuanet]

Related: Chinchilla Becomes Costa Rica's First Female President

by Adam Williams

Laura Chinchilla won Costa Rica's presidential election on Sunday and will become the first woman head of state in the country's history.

There had been some speculations that Libertarian Movement candidate Otto Guevara or Citizen Action Party candidate Otton Solis might upset her on the election night. But it turned out that the race wasn't even close.

Chinchilla won the popular vote in all seven provinces and in 80 of 81 cantons, beating closest challenger Solis by a margin of 21 percentage points.

TRANSITION TO START

On Tuesday, the president-elect will meet outgoing President Oscar Arias, under whom she served as vice president between 2006 and 2008.

The transition will be completed on May 8, when Chinchilla will be formally sworn in.

Throughout her presidential campaign, Chinchilla, a member of the National Liberation Party, has maintained conservative stance in articulating her policies.

When asked by the press on how her presidency would differ from that of Arias, Chinchilla responded by explaining how she would improve existing plans.

"The country had a significant amount of growth and development over the past four years," she said on Sunday.

"Much of my government's work is to continuously develop the existing initiatives and propel them forward."

SECURITY TOPS AGENDA

Security tops Chinchilla's agenda. According to a 2009 survey conducted by the National University among 800 Costa Ricans, the majority of the respondents cited crime, insecurity, drugs, assaults and domestic violence as the most urgent issues for the country.

To curb the spike in crimes, the president-elect said she would assign more border police to combat drug trafficking, install electronic surveillance systems, and provide police forces with improved equipment, such as bullet proof vests and new radios.

Another pillar of the Chinchilla campaign centered on improving the country's ailing infrastructure, as many roads, bridges and ports are in bad shape.

The president-elect vowed to provide significant funds for the Transportation Ministry to improve roads and to further develop the ports of Limon, on the Caribbean, and of Puntarenas, on the Pacific.

OTHER INITIATIVES

She also pledged to create jobs by investing in infrastructure. Chinchilla's other economic initiatives include imposing flat rate for income tax and creating green jobs.

The president-elect said she intends to reduce poverty on family-by-family basis, and by continuing to provide scholarships for poor students through the Avancemos program.

She also plans to offer more families with the daycare option, possibly by creating a nationalized daycare system for working mothers.

People will keep their eyes open on whether she keeps all her campaign promises.