Costa Rican centrist set for election win with no rival

San José (AFP) – Voting was under way in Costa Rica on Sunday, where historian and former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis faced no opposition in the country’s presidential run-off election. His lone rival in the race, Johnny Araya, dropped out last month after polls showed he would be soundly defeated, giving Solis a glide path towards victory in the election to lead this country of some five million people. Araya was the candidate of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN), which has fallen into disfavor because of alleged corruption and economic crisis under outgoing President Laura Chinchilla. The recent scandals have weakened not just Chinchilla and the PLN, but also the two-party system in Costa Rica, Latin America’s oldest democracy.