San José (AFP) – Historian and former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis is set to cruise to victory Sunday in Costa Rica’s presidential run-off election after his sole opponent dropped out of the race. With an insurmountable lead in the polls, Solis’s challenge is to encourage the 3.1 million voters in Latin America’s oldest democracy to actually show up to cast ballots. As the candidate of the centrist Citizen Action Party (PAC), the 55-year-old opposition candidate was the surprise winner of the first round of the elections February 2. Solis emerged from last place in the polls to edge out Johnny Araya, the candidate of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN).
