Related: Arias Costa Rica wins presidential election: exit polls

    SAN JOSE, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president Oscar Arias held a narrow lead in Costa Rica's presidential elections on Sunday, according to preliminary results.     

Former Costa Rican President and presidential candidate, Oscar Arias, raises his arm after the first results of a presidential election were announced at Corobici hotel in San Jose, February 6, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

    With 32 percent of the votes counted, Arias won 41 percent support compared to 40.2 percent for his main rival Otton Solis, president of the Citizen's Action Party.

    Arias, president from 1986-1990, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts in ending civil conflicts in neighboring Central American countries. 
    

Former Costa Rican president and presidential candidate of the National Liberation Party, Oscar Arias, speaks to the press after he casts his vote in Pavas near San Jose, Costa Rica, February 5, 2006. (Xinhua)

    Arias hopes that Costa Rica could join the Central American Free Agreement, known as CAFTA, which he believes will revitalize the country's moribund economy.

    He has also pledged to improve the country's infrastructure and invest more in education and housing.
     

Former Costa Rican president and presidential candidate of the National Liberation Party, Oscar Arias, kisses a supporter as he arrives at a polling station during the presidential election in Pavas near San Jose, Costa Rica, February 5, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

    Solis, the former planning minister who lost the presidential election four years ago, argues that the free trade pact should be renegotiated since it could worsen poverty and hurt farmers.

    Television exit polls showed that Arias had a wider lead at 45 percent. However, the result was not so clear-cut, said the head of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Oscar Fonseca.

    Twelve other candidates were also competing for the presidency in an election from which all 57 members of congress, two vice presidents and dozens of city councilors will be chosen.

    The Social Christian Unity Party of current President Abel Pacheco has had little support now. Enditem