aura Fernandez, a conservative, populist politician with strong links to outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, has won nearly half of the votes in Costa Rica's general election with 94% of votes counted, meaning she will become the country's new leader.
Her victory confirms a strong rightward trend in Latin America, where voter anger at corruption and crime has driven recent conservative wins in Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Honduras.
What were the election results in Costa Rica?
Fernandez had won 48.3% of the vote, the preliminary results from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) showed, far in excess of the 40% needed to avoid a run-off.
Fernandez's party, the Sovereign People's Party, is also projected to win a majority of 30 seats in the 57-seat Congress, up from its current eight seats.
The other main candidates in the election lagged far behind Fernandez, with economist Alvaro Ramos receiving about one third of the vote, and architect and former first lady Claudia Dobles taking under 5%.
Costa Rica, a country of some 5 million inhabitants, has so far had only one female president in its history, Laura Chinchilla, who served from 2010 to 2014.
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